


Chrono Story

by Crowoxy



Series: Chronicles of the Paladins [1]
Category: Evillious Chronicles, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU Evillious Chronicles, Adventure, Angst, Canon What Canon, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Relationships, Primary Big Bang, Vocaloid levels of confusion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-09-25 02:22:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 34,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9798239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crowoxy/pseuds/Crowoxy
Summary: There is usually a reason that weapons are created, and a weapon such as Voltron is no exception. When Lance digs around to find the reason from old data files he found in the Castle, he didn't expect to find eons worth of a story leading back to the very first Paladins of the Lions. And funnily enough, it's the Druids who hold most of the answers.An Evillious Chronicles AU of Voltron - Set after Season 1.





	1. Blood Stained Switch

**Author's Note:**

> First off, I would like to thank the mods over at the Voltron Primary Paladin Big Bang who organized this entire debacle. It's been an amazing journey of fevered writing, writer's block, tears, and many, many complaints to which my roommate can attest to. But I can't say I didn't enjoy the ride. 
> 
> Another big thanks to the artists who are simply amazing:  
> [Nie Nie](http://captainfreakishlynerdyme.tumblr.com/)  
> [Connie](http://chim8szua.tumblr.com/)  
> [PeppleMint](http://pepplemint.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Go check them out, they are fabulous. 
> 
> Another big thank you to my beta [Asena](http://neverdoingmuch.tumblr.com/) for who without this fic would probably make even less sense. 
> 
> As a premise: This fic is based off of the Evillious Chronicles, a several years long, randomly updated and not in chronological order, multiple media black hole of videos made by [Akuno-P](http://vocaloid.wikia.com/wiki/Akuno-P/) also known as Mothy. The best way to get all of the information is from the [Wiki](http://theevilliouschronicles.wikia.com/wiki/The_Evillious_Chronicles_Wiki/) and even that might take you some time to read through. 
> 
> I put the videos in order as best I could here [in a playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL77Nr4Dbj1312tmywmr1gfnyPLmiYGPkj/) if anyone is interested in listening (and reading unless you understand Japanese.) 
> 
>  
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the plot begins and our trio of teenagers enjoy some light reading.

_“ – can’t keep doing this. I just told you the consequences – “_

 

_“Do not presume to tell me what to do; Voltron is the Universe’s only defense and answer to all threats.”_

 

_“Voltron is leading us all to an early demise. The Lions – “_

 

_“Are simple machines. We are their Paladins, we are meant to use them as they were intended to; to free the Okumushu.”_

_“The Lions are much more than simple machines. They have their own thoughts, their own minds. You would disregard their concerns and fear?”_

_“These Lions are highly advanced technology, yes. But not to the point of self delusion.”_

 

_Silence._

 

_“You will not change your stance, my old friend?”_

 

_“My stance has never needed to change. Our work must continue if we wish to see the Okumushu’s grace and power shine upon us.”_

 

_“You are willing to bring death and destruction to all life for glory of a species that may no longer exist.”_

 

_“Your ignorance shows how little you know of their greatness. Not death. But life, hope. The very things Voltron represents!”_

 

_“Voltron is a war machine.” A deep sigh. “A war machine used to enforce justice based on personal standards.”_

 

_“Those personal standards are the universal standards of the age.”_

 

_“War is inevitable then. I warned you when we first brought out the Lions to quell the slave rebellion.”_

 

_“So be it. The Paladins would not waver from their duty. You clearly do not see yourself as a Paladin any longer.”_

 

_“You are being a fool, old friend. Without me, Voltron will not be available for your use.”_

 

_“A new Paladin can always be found. Forming Voltron is the Lion’s prerogative, they will not delay in the task.”_

 

_“I think you will find that they will. But you no longer listen to my counsel, so I suppose my words mean nothing to you.”_

 

_“You would be correct. Voltron will lead to the return of the Okumushu. You do not wish to see the ancient species grace the galaxy with their presence once more. How can I trust your words to align with mine if our goals differ?”_

 

_“Then next I see you will be on the battlefield.”_

 

_“It shall not be much of a battle when Voltron comes out to decimate your fleet.”_

_Silence._

 

_“Do not underestimate my people. We fight until we win… or we die.”_

 

“Lance!” the door leading into the room hissed open. The human draped on the chair was frowning at the desk in front of him, bright green and white headphones covering his ears, and twirling a pencil he found stuffed in his jacket pocket from Earth in his hand.

In the doorway, Keith scowled. He had been sent by Shiro, otherwise known as the only adult in his life who could order him to complete menial tasks that had nothing to do with training or making battle plans. Like look for his fellow Paladin to call for dinner. This is not what he imagined being a part of the universe’s only defense would be like. When Allura had named them paladins of the great magical mechanical lions, Keith had thought everything would be like in the Garrison: strict routines, classes, and constant training. Granted, the Garrison had never prepared Keith for the possibility of being drafted into a war against a 10,000 year old Empire with six other people. But the only routine in the Castle of Lions was the team training that took up most of the day with a break for lunch; a few hours before dinner was free time for all the occupants of the Castle, Allura graciously allowing them to do what they wished. Pidge and Hunk could usually be found in the labs tinkering with multiple devices and engines, shouting at one another about tools and ideas to try. If Hunk wasn’t there – Pidge never seemed to leave the workrooms – he could be found in the kitchen, experimenting with the space goo to make it taste like anything _but_ space goo. Coran would usually be hovering nearby in the kitchen, or elsewhere in the Castle performing maintenance, sometimes with Lance assisting him. Allura would usually be with Shiro researching the Galra and looking up the latest news to catch up on 10,000 years of tyranny.

Apparently now, if Lance wasn't helping maintain the castle, Keith could find Lance hiding away in rooms of the unused hallways, just fiddling his fingers. A surge of irritation welled in his chest; Keith could have still been training with the bot, improving himself so he could pass the current level he was stuck on. Instead, he had been requested – and finger quotes were _so_ being used in his own mind, thank you Lance for explaining what those were – to stop early and roam down dark hallways.

[Art by the amazing NieNie](http://captainfreakishlynerdyme.tumblr.com/post/157412447228/this-image-is-based-of-off-rogueofdragonss/) 

 

“Lance!” Keith called again from the doorway. Lance continued to ignore him, his pencil scribbling against the desk, his other hand pressing a button on the device in front of him. Keith stomped into the room, yanking the headphones off of Lance’s head and ignoring the shriek the other teenager gave as he toppled off his chair in shock. 

“Holy fudges with quiznak! Don’t sneak up on people, you sneaker!”

“Well, then maybe pay attention when someone is calling your name. Then I wouldn’t have had to sneak in.” Keith added finger quotes to the word sneak; he really hadn’t been quiet coming into the room, and anyone not blasting music in their ears should have been able to hear him coming from a mile off.

“You are so abusing the finger quotes these days.” Lance pulled himself off the floor, grabbing the headphones from Keith to place them on the desk. “I regret ever teaching you the sacred art.”

Keith snorted. “It’s just moving your fingers up and down when being ironic, what’s so sacred about that?”

Lance gaped. “What’s – what is sacred? Irony? Do you even know what ironic is?” Keith shrugged. “You, I suppose.”

“Wow, I am so lucky Pidge was not here for that burn.” Lance shook his head. “Anyways, what did you need little old me for?”

“I don’t need you for anything?” He didn’t need Lance, right? He was just looking for him? “It’s dinner time so Shiro sent me over to get you since no one knew where you were.”

“It’s time for dinner already?” Lance yelped, pushing away from the desk.

“A little late for dinner, by now. What were you doing all the way back here?” Lance flailing around was amusing; Keith watched as his gangly limbs moved each and every way except the direction Lance wanted to go. It wasn’t long before he ended back up on the floor. 

“I was listening to some old Altean recordings to try and improve my language skills. There’s some translator magic thing in the air so everyone can understand what someone else is saying for the most part, but that doesn’t apply for recordings or readings.” In a flash, Lance was back on his feet, headphones and pencil left on the desk as he walked out of the room, Keith right on his heels. “So I figure, since I learn best while writing things down, I’ll listen then write it out. And I’ve mostly gotten the Altean language down while hearing it; writing is still a challenge so I keep having to rewind the recordings and I think I’ll need to ask Coran what a few words mean again. And see if I can hunt anything down that’s paper because writing on a desk is so lame.”

“Wait, you’re writing _on_ the desk? Why can’t you just use a datapad?” The room the team was using to eat together wasn’t far now, just another few turns to the main hallway. Hopefully there would still be food – and when did space goo become his only diet? – piping hot for them when they would arrive.

“Ugh, I hate typing for projects like this. Writing it out is so much better, but there isn’t a piece of paper anywhere on this ship. Coran didn’t even know what paper was, let alone a pen!” Lance groaned. “I mean I get it, amazing alien technology, but would it kill them to have something not powered by magic crystals?”

 _It almost killed you_ , is what Keith wanted to say. Wasn’t it bad that everything on the ship could break down just through the malfunctioning of a single crystal? Did Alteans never have to think of contingency plans? Keith let Lance ramble on about a lack of paper and pens, content to just let his words wash over him as the two paladins headed to the room dubbed as the dining hall. He’d have to think more on finding some sort of first aid kit later; maybe Hunk could help him put one together. The team couldn’t rely on magic crystal fueled healing pods forever.

“-ith. Keeeeeeith.” A finger poking his cheek had Keith slapping a hand out to push the offending object out of his face. Lance just grinned as his fist nearly flew back into his face. “Aw, did I interrupt you from your spacey dreams?”

“Spacey dreams?” Whatever irritation had been eased away from the walk came crashing back in a tidal wave. “Can’t you think of anything not stupid sounding to say?”

Lance gasped in mock horror. “That was not stupid sounding, Mullet-head! It was _clever_ and a classic. Don’t diss the classics, Space Cowboy.”

“Space cowboy?” Keith muttered.

“My poor heart can’t take your lack of knowledge on classic shows and memes to even…um…. Well it can’t bother to tell you!” Lance looked pleased with himself. “Anyways, I had a reason for poking your face,” the blue paladin turned and took a few steps towards a closed door before stretching his arms outward. “Tada! We have arrived at the dining hall! Food awaits us!”

If Lance was expecting a response, Keith didn’t give him one. Unless not bothering with a verbal answer and simply pushing past the other boy to open the doors was the response Lance was looking for.

“It’s about time you two got here.” Hunk was passing a bowl of the space goo to Pidge, the smallest Paladin taking a large portion to slosh on their plate. “Where were you hiding that it took Keith like twenty minutes to find you?”

“Twenty minutes is like 900 ticks, right?” Pidge stirred the goo with their spoon.

“Well, I’m still not sure about the exact measurement of your Earth minutes,” Coran swept into the room with two more plates. “But it has been approximately 912 ticks since Shiro asked Keith to look for Lance.”

Pidge smirked, “Fuck yes. Still the master of math even in space.”

“Language, Pidge.” Shiro ate as calmly as ever, the goo spread around his plate evenly.

“Shiro, I can totally say the word fuck if I want to.” With a stubborn glint in her eye, Pidge shoveled a spoonful of goo into her mouth.

Shiro blinked. “I mean, I was talking about the M-A-T-H word, but I suppose you can’t say fuck either.” Pidge nearly choked on her goo trying to contain her laughter.

“Alright, settle down Paladins.” Despite Coran trying to look stern, his mustache twitched in clear amusement. “And Lance, please don’t feed half of your food to the mice. You need to eat everything on that plate.”

“Aw, Coran,” Lance dropped into his designated seat, Keith taking his place on the chair to Lance's right. “I have a delicate stomach and can only eat so much. Besides, the mice love it!”

“Paladins need to be completely healthy and that means eating all of the space goo on their plates!” Coran waved a spoon in Lance’s face. “I will be watching, don’t think I am not!” Lance pouted, his brow furrowing deeper as the plate was pushed in front of him. Beside him, Keith had already started eating; he had been training for hours and his stomach was set on reminding him to refuel if he wanted to keep moving. 

“But don’t we have anything other than space goop to eat? I would kill for a bowl of cereal right now.” Despite Coran’s squinty glare, Lance fiddled with the spoon instead of using it to spoon the food in his mouth. Keith kicked him under the table. “Ow! Que demonios, gilipollas?”

Keith knew maybe three phases in Spanish, all of which were either about numbers or shrieks of admonishments; none of the words Lance used were recognizable. Nonetheless, he could guess.

“Quit wasting time and eat the food.” Honestly, food was food. What did it matter that it was green goo or rice and beans?

“Nah, Lance is right.” Hunk sighed. “I miss having actual solid food to munch on. Like chips or carrots with peanut butter.”

Pidge perked up. “Peanut butter? Where’s the peanut butter? Give it to me.” Her hands were outstretched towards Hunk, fingers making little grabbing motions.

“Sadly, no peanut butter, whatever that is, on this ship!” Coran pulled his moustache. “However, we may be landing on a planet with some vegetation if you blokes and ladies want to scavenge for food that’ll perish within the week.”

“Oh my god, yes.” Hunk’s eyes brightened. “Can you imagine the things we could make with edible alien food?”

“Empanadas!” Lance shouted.

“Malasadas.” Hunk looked ecstatic. Not for the first time, Keith wondered at how weird the other Paladins were.

“Bunuelo!”

“Snicker doodle cookies!” Pidge chimed in.

“Edamane sounds delicious to snack on right now.” Shiro sighed.

“Now, now Paladins. We all want some food that isn’t goo, I know. But we won’t be landing on that planet for some time, so please settle down.” As was the norm, Allura was the last to arrive at the dinner table, changed from her flight suit to an Altean dress and hair let loose.

“Apologies, princess.” Keith wasn’t surprised that Shiro was the first to offer condolences to the Princess of Altea, who naturally fell into the role of the group's commander. He had always been that way for as long as Keith had known him. Everyone around the table muttered their apologies, Pidge and Lance the softest. Keith knew they hated how Allura kept them from reminiscing about Earth to keep them focused on the goal of defeating the Galra.

“Hey Coran! Before I forget,” Lance made a face at the bite of goo he swallowed. “What’s Okumushu mean?”

“Okumushu?” Coran leaned back in his chair and hummed. “Okumushu, Okumushu. I know I’ve heard that word before.”

“That’s okay,” Lance shrugged. “I’m sure it’ll turn up so-“

“Did you say Okumushu?” Allura interrupted, eyes wide. Her pronunciation of the word held more emphasis on constants than Lance’s attempt, not that it mattered to Keith; it all sounded like mumbled letters either way to him.

Lance blinked at the princess before breaking out in a grin. “Why, yes, princess. You can educate me _anytime_ about the – Ow!” Hunk smiled sheepishly at Lance as he lowered his hand away from the Blue Paladin’s head.

“Thank you, Hunk.”  Allura shot a smile at the Yellow Paladin. “The Okumushu are legend among the Alteans, my father especially loved them. He would always tell me tales about them before bedtime when I was younger.”

“Ah! I remember those tales. The species that founded the major governments for the known galaxy ages past. Spectacular warriors and magicians, they were. The very first Paladins too.” Coran added as an afterthought.

“They were the first Paladins?” Keith hadn’t thought much of where Voltron had come from or when it began as the defender of the universe. But if Allura and Coran knew about the _original_ Paladins, then maybe the team could learn more about the Lions and what it actually meant to be a Paladin. Quiet whispers resonated in the back of his mind, saying that he had only scratched the surface flying Red these past few months.

Allura nodded excitedly, noticing how all the Paladins seem to grow more interested in the subject. “Yes! If I remember correctly, they built the Lions to traverse the galaxy before they all vanished. It was my father who figured all the Lions could form together 10,000 years ago. Before that they had been in separate quadrants of space, each a protector of their area.”

“Why did your father decide to bring the Lions all together if they were literally light years apart?” Why did Lance look apprehensive as he spoke? There was a tingle of excitement curling in Keith’s insides; he wanted to know everything about this species.

“I’m… not sure.” Allura looked at Coran. “Regardless, it was an excellent decision, otherwise the Galra would have taken over everything by now.”

“Not true.” Pidge tapped the side of her face. “Zarkon has been expanding his empire for the last 10,000 years. We’ve only been piloting the Lions and fighting the Galra for a few short months, I highly doubt just with the seven of us managed to _stop_ them at all.”

Keith sighed. “At the very least, we’ve managed to divert their attention away from the bits of the universe they haven’t touched yet.”

“Wow, guys. Way to bring to optimism down to the ground floor.” Hunk sighed. “Besides, if these Okumushu are real, they sound awesome. Where did you even hear the name, buddy?”

“I found some old data files in one of the back rooms.” The mice were chittering around Lance, waiting for the human to hold out his spoon full of goo. Keith didn’t say a word when Lance obliged, letting the mice scurry around his plate to lick off the spoon. Lance was just lucky Coran hadn’t noticed yet. Or maybe he had, but wasn’t saying anything? Which was weird; why bring it up if he wasn’t actually going to do anything about it? “Don’t you guys have a handy dictionary translator around so I don’t have to keep bugging you about these random words?”

“What is a dictionary?” Allura and Coran both asked at the same time.

“Does anyone even use a dictionary anymore?” Shiro wondered out loud.

The table erupted into a flurry of activity, as Pidge explained to the two non-humans the function of a dictionary – “Collection of the definition of all the words in the language in one book. Also good for hitting older brothers in the face with.” – and Hunk and Shiro groaned at Lance swooning in his chair, one hand dramatically clutching his chest as he moaned about Shiro’s betrayal for not understanding the wonders of the dictionary. Keith ignored them all to eat his space goo dinner. These people were as ridiculous as some of those old Korean dramas his foster family used to watch when he was very young.

“Ah, something like a word bank then!” Coran said excitedly. “The program used back in the day may still be running, although I imagine that it would be 10,000 years out of date.”

Lance righted himself in the chair, subtly feeding another spoonful of goo to the mice. “That would be great to have, thanks Coran!”

“Think nothing of it, Paladin.” Coran was always so animated; Keith couldn’t help but feel comforted by it. He was positive the rest of the paladins, and maybe even Allura felt the same way.

Keith must have blanked out of the conversations happening around him, because the next thing he was aware of was a sharp sting in his shinbone. Keith hissed, leaning over the side of his chair to rub the skin where he was sure to get a bruise.

“What the hell, Lance?” No one else but Lance would have kicked him; if only because Lance was the closest to him and the others would need to reach _around_ the Blue Paladin to touch him.

“What?” Lance had the gall to blink innocently at him, although the grin he wasn’t able to completely mask gave Keith ample reason to scowl at him. “Allura asked a question and you were completely spaced out, man.”

“That doesn’t mean you needed to kick me!”

“Uh, yeah I think it does.” Lance raised his hands. “Busy eating here, Keith. Can’t use these perfectly manicured fingers to shake you when I’m eating.”

“You’re feeding most of your food to the mice!” Keith accused, pointing at the mice who were now curled up sleeping next to Lance’s plate. Lance’s grin faltered a bit; Keith knew without a doubt he was trying to refrain from sneaking a glance at Coran. The Altean was highly vocal about Lance eating a full plate of food, no matter whether or not it had been too much. When the other Paladins found they had far too much goo on their plate, they would sneakily pass it on to Keith – who was a food garbage machine according to Shiro – instead of the more conspicuous method of feeding to the mice. That was strictly a Lance method.

“I _ate_ most of my food, thank you very much Keith.” Lance sniffed. “Which you would have known if you were paying attention.” Eyes wide in disbelief – how could anyone believe that? – Keith looked incredulously at Coran, who was squinting at Lance with a steaming teacup in his hands. Lance shrank back in his seat, his grin faltering just a bit more, now that he could guess Coran would come after him at a later time.

“Boys, if you would?” Allura’s voice was strained with forced patience.

“Sorry.” Everyone at the table was far too used to these outbursts between the Red and Blue Paladins. When they had first arrived at the Castle of Lions and Lance and Keith fought at the dinner table, Keith had felt a pang of embarrassment from Allura’s admonishment. Now, it was normal and it was almost comforting having the same routine day after day.

“Now that we’ve all calmed down…” Allura took a sip of her own drink, “what are your plans after dinner? I know Pidge is going back to her laboratory instead of actually sleeping at a decent time, -“

“I sleep exactly how much I need to, Princess.” Pidge interrupted. “Besides my experiments are helping us learn a lot more about the Galra, which is something we need!”

“And Shiro has said he’ll be going to the library and then checking on Pidge in a few tocks – “

“I don’t need a babysitter!”

“I’m not saying you do, but Paladins should be getting a healthy amount of rest!” Allura glared at Pidge from her seat.

Keith rolled his eyes as Allura and Pidge went off arguing with one another about Pidge’s habits. Their fights were as common as the arguments between Keith and Lance; usually Allura trying to get Pidge to sleep earlier and the green paladin arguing that she worked best in the dead of night.

“I’m taking Hunk to see the old data files I found about the Okumushu.” Lance said to Keith. “He’s interested to see if there’s more data files on them. Want to come with?” Keith considered it. He had been planning on returning back to the training room to go a few more rounds with the bot before heading to bed. From the corner of his eye, Keith saw Shiro nodding at him, gesturing at him to go with the other two boys.

“I guess?” Keith shrugged.

“Great!” Lance clapped his hands together. “Then let’s get going now, seeing how dinner is done, and I still want to get my eight hours of beauty sleep every night.”

“Don’t lie, Lance.” Hunk laughed. “You just want to escape before Coran can track you down.”

“Hunk, my best buddy in the entire world, well universe, please hush that lovely face of yours and let’s get going.”

“Keith, you sure you want to tag along?” Hunk slung an arm around Keith’s shoulders. “It’s going to be a lot of staring at electronic screens and headphones blocking any conversation.”

Keith shrugged, careful to keep Hunk’s arm lodged around him. It brought a sense of comfort he couldn’t really explain, but Keith knew it was pleasant. “A lot of writing directly on desks, you mean?”

“Writing on – who’s been writing on desks?” Keith nodded towards Lance and Hunk rushed forward, his momentum causing his arm to move upwards to Keith's neck, to drag Keith along for the ride. 

“Hunk!” Lance screeched and Keith wheezed as Hunk tackled Lance, Keith falling into a tangle of arms and legs.

“Bad, Lance! No writing on furniture, how many times do I need to noogie you into remembering?” Hunk used his free hand to rub against Lance’s hair; Keith couldn’t see very well with his face pressed into Hunk’s shoulder, but he could hear Lance swatting at Hunk with his arms and cursing at him in Spanish. Keith tapped Hunk’s back, hoping he would get the message and _let him go_.

“Alright, alright! No more writing on desks, got it Hunk!” A pause before, “Dude, you better let Keith breathe, I think he’s about to pass out.”

“Oh shit! Sorry, man.” Hunk immediately removed his arm and Keith shook his head. “Didn’t realize I was still holding on to you.” Hunk said sheepishly.

“It’s okay.” Keith rotated his neck, enjoying the cracks his vertebrae made as he completed a full circle. “You’re really strong; we should spar sometime.”

“Are you serious right now?” Lance muttered from under Hunk’s hand, which had moved down to cover his face. “Do you think of anything but training, Mullet-brains?”

Keith pushed himself to his feet and held out a hand for Hunk to pull himself up. Lance could pick himself up without his help.

“Sometimes I think about knives.” He stated dryly.

“Dios mío,” Lance muttered as he jumped up. “Por favor, alguien ayuda a este niño.”

“I don’t need any help.” Hunk laughed as Lance sputtered. Keith crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“When were you going to tell me you knew Spanish?” Lance demanded as he started down the hallway.

“I don’t really, just a few phrases and words.” Keith admitted. “My last foster mom was very fond of that phrase with me. Especially since I wouldn’t stop jumping from high places and giving her pseudo heart attacks.”

Lance cackled in glee. “Flying Keith: star of the home circus! Oh, I bet that was glorious!”

“I don’t see why you’re laughing so much, Lance.” Hunk waggled his eyebrows as the paladins turned a corner, only a few feet away from the room where Keith found Lance in before dinner. “If I remember the stories in our bunks well, you did the same –“

“Shhhhhhhh, Hunk. Those are words spoken between brothers, not shared outside of our dorms!” Lance shoved his finger in front of Hunk’s lips. Keith couldn’t help but grin at the antics. This familiarity and joking was something he had always vaguely seen in other kids growing up; it was _nice_ to be a part of it.

“Keith is our bro now, bro.” Hunk pushed Lance’s finger away. “Secrets are for _malihini_.”

“Quiznak you and your loving personality.” Lance pouted and pushed open the door in front of him. Nothing had changed in the hour Keith had last been in here. Lance’s headphones and pencil were still on the desk – Keith could see the faint writing of Lance’s scribbles – in front of large terminal with the program still running.

“You got the portable screen, Hunk?” Lance strolled over to the desk, cracking his knuckles.

Hunk held up the monitor with a hum of agreement. Lance clicked a few buttons on the terminal, sending what data files were available to the smaller screen for Hunk to read. Lance beckoned Keith over to the larger desk after tossing the headphones to Hunk.

“We can listen to audio files on speaker.” Lance explained, pushing Keith on the chair and jumping onto the table. “And since Hunk is mean and won’t let me write on the table,” Lance shot a glare to Hunk, who responded with a wink before placing the headphones over his ears to listen to music. “I got some napkins to write on.”

“I don’t mind writing on a datapad.” Keith pointed out. “If you want, I’ll type up what you wrote on the desk to the datapad so you won’t forget about it.”

Lance looked surprised. “You will? Thanks, man. I was going to type it all up later…but thanks.” Keith said nothing, just turned away to hide the warmth he felt in his cheeks to pull out the datapad he kept in one of his packs.

Keith had always been able to tune out the surrounding noises when busy with a task. Writing down Lance’s notes on the desk was the same; he was only mildly aware of the voices coming out of the speakers. Hunk was off in his own world, the music he was listening through the headphones blocking out all extra noise that would distract him from the data files he was translating.

Lance was entrapped by the audio, hands quickly writing out what he had heard, a few lines at a time, crossing out words here and there as he rewound the audio to listen again. Just like the first few audio files he had listened to, the subject discussed by the voices intrigued him.

Lance would need to thank Blue again for suggesting this pass time.

 

 _“This is the first day of recording this journal.”_ A female voice this time.

_“It’s been so long since I’ve kept a journal, at least 36,000 years. Well, 36,000 rotations around a dead sun that no longer exists.”_

_Silence for ten ticks before a heavy sigh._

_“Some days I think it may have been better if I stayed behind and perished with the rest. Maybe I could have made those music boxes I always liked before the Okumushu destroyed Elphegrot. I could have left Elagar to guard the seals herself.”_

_Another sigh._

_“No matter. By the time I record something new, we will have already arrived on Altea. Another monarch wanting the Lions for their own use.”_  

 

The transmission ended there. Lance frowned at his notes on the napkin, the Altean alphabet rapidly written out as he caught the words. Next to him, Keith was still busy typing the notes on the desk and across the room Hunk was peering at the screen, a frown on his face. Lance clicked on the next journal entry audio file.

_“Altea is as boring as I remember. The only fun is the downpour of flaming rocks that comes every season to scorch the soil to prepare for the new crops. I now have my own room with a sophisticated terminal to store all the data I have.”_

It was the same voice as last time. Lance wondered who they were, especially since it sounded like they assumed the original purpose of the Lions wasn’t to defend the universe.

Lance knew deep down that it couldn’t have been the case back when Allura first explained Voltron to the group. Voltron was a weapon of mass destruction, and the thrill Lance got from flying Blue through space didn’t hide the fact that she was a mechanical robot with enough firepower to destroy a town. He didn’t know if the others felt the same way, so he never brought it up to them. Only to Blue who hesitantly directed him to specific audio files located in the databanks of the castle terminals for more information.

 

_“I do not believe we shall be leaving Altea  for some time. Elagar has found a new toy to play with. Alfor the King of Altea and the pilot of the Yellow Lion. I do not like him."_

_Something smashed to the ground._

_“What has gotten into her? Bring all the Lions to one location? Preposterous.”_

_“Haggar, what are you doing?”_

_A door slams as someone new enters the audio._

_“Elagar. I see you have time to speak with me now.”_

_“What can I say? I've been busy. Organizing all the Lions to be on one planet is rather tiring work.”_

_“So you decide to barge into my chambers to continue regaling me with a plan that I continue to advise you is terrible. How considerate.”_

_The footsteps echo loudly through the audio file._

_“Oh, my darling Haggar. You are still my favorite younger sister, have no fear. I’ve just found someone new, is all.”_

_“I have had cycles upon cycles to spend with you. My concern is of the Lions, seeing as we have lived immortal lives thus far to make sure the Okumushu are never released.”_

_“Yes, but I have had a thought. Why?”_

_“Why?”_

_“Yes, but why must we continue monitoring the Lions? Let the Okumushu be free, it’s been enough time.”_

_“Sister, you know why we can’t. They want the destruction of all life, just as their dimension was destroyed.”_

_“Precisely.” A cold laugh rang out. “Haggar, who cares any longer? I’ve spoken to Alfor and he agrees. Let there be a new galaxy. Let the disease the Okumushu carry spread to all corners and sow the seeds of destruction. Levia already speaks to Alfor and the words they weave is glorious!”_

_“I cannot. I chose to stay with you as a Druid to keep watch, I will not turn my back on my duty.”_

_A gasp as something hard hit the first voice, Haggar, and then a crash. Static buzzed in the background._

_“You are too set in your duty, Haggar, and it has made you blind. Preservation has done nothing but waste time. The Okumushu were right when –“_

 

Static covered anything else Lance could have heard.

“What was that?” Keith was staring at the screen in shock, his face pale. Lance didn’t feel much better.

“I got most of the translation down, if you didn’t catch all of it.” Lance slid over the napkin he had been jotting his notes down on, the Alteans symbols shaky and some areas ripped where his pencil had pressed down too hard.

“So it did say Haggar.” Keith’s eyes were wide, hands curling in and out of a fist as he looked at the napkin. “I wasn’t sure, thought I might have been hearing it wrong… but they also said Druid…”

“Do you know something about it? I know the Druids are now working for Zarkon, but they couldn’t have always been evil.” Still, it had not been a fun transmission to listen to.

“Haggar was the name of the Druid who experimented on Shiro.” Keith sounded pained. “When he’s having one of his flashbacks, he’ll sometimes shout out their name. And he sounds so _scared_.”

“Hey, hey. It’s probably not the same Haggar druid person. It sounds like that Elagar lady hit her pretty hard, even though they're sisters.” Lance took a deep breath.

Being from a big family, he knew that sometimes getting hurt was inevitable; there was always a brother or sister or parent who would cause you pain. But that crash at the end… It sounded _bad._  Zarkon had been alive for 10,000 years, and this Haggar even said she was around for much longer than that. It wasn’t a stretch to think that this Elagar was still alive and kicking. If they had no qualms with hurting their own family in order to bring about the destruction of the galaxy – assuming all of that was true – then they were someone Lance very much did not want to meet.

“Anyways. What do you think about the Lions part? That’s what I’ve been trying to find out.” Maybe Lance should have actually thought before letting Keith see his doubts about the integrity of Voltron. Second-guessing a mission was the Galaxy Garrison's big no-no on soldier conduct, and Lance knew Keith lived by the mission code.

Keith frowned. “I read the notes for the earlier audio you translated, with the two male sounding aliens? It’s definitely matching up with what you just wrote with Haggar and Elagar.”

Slowly, one of his hands moved to hold his chin up. It seemed thinking about something else eased his fear for Shiro and of his old tormentors. “And it seems there’s at least two accounts so far that these Okumushu aren’t regarded highly. But they were the first Paladins? So if they had been so terrible, wouldn’t they have destroyed the Lions and Paladin concept all together?”

“That would be logical, wouldn’t it?” Lance stretched out on the table, rolling onto his stomach. “I mean, Allura and Coran seem to think the Okumushu are basically heroes or Gods, not harbingers of disease and destruction.”

“And the Druids were there to keep them in the Lions? Also strange.” If Keith could scowl any more in confusion, his frown would fall off his face. Lance refrained from laughing at the thought.

“Hunk!” He called. A third opinion may put things in perspective. “Huuuuuunk!” The headphones were top notch at blocking out all sound; Hunk didn’t even react. Lance balled up an unused napkin and threw it at Hunk’s head. With a sigh, Hunk looked up and removed the headphones.

“Find anything interesting? I've got some files on the Okumushu, not a lot but a few. And the things they’ve done, wow.” Hunk whistled.

“Could use your magic eyes, buddy.” Lance snagged Keith’s datapad and the napkin and held them out to Hunk. “I can play the audio files while you read if you want.”

“Sure thing, Lance.” Hunk said distractedly, already skimming through the notes. “Are you sure you translated these right?”

“Am I – of course I’m sure!” Lance sounded offended. “I’ve been working on my translating skills for _weeks_ now. I’ve been conversing with Coran whenever I can and asking him about the words I don’t know. How could you even question that, Hunk?”

“I’m just asking because whatever these guys are saying is a direct contrast to the documents I just read.” Hunk shook his head. “Just play the audio, let’s see if it matches up.”

Lance couldn’t hide his hurt expression fast enough. It _was_ rational to question a translation, how often had Lance done the same with his siblings back home when learning English? And Lance _had_ just started learning a few weeks ago, and though he had always been good with languages on Earth, and the grammatical structure of the Altean language was similar to the Westernized Latin based languages from Earth, he could still have made mistakes in the translations.

But still, it hurt to have Hunk doubt his skills. Doubt this one skill Lance _knew_ he had and didn’t boast about to hide his insecurities. He opened the audio files.

Both Hunk and Keith listened intently, Keith’s eyes closed as he listened to the male voices discussing the Lions.

“Whatever he’s saying, it’s wrong.” Hunk announced. “Again, everything I just read literally clashes with that negative nonsense he’s spouting.”

“Could you back that up again?” Keith asked, his eyes still closed. “There’s something familiar about that voice.” Lance obliged, starting the audio over.

“Hang on, that’s Zarkon’s voice!” Keith stood up from his seat, shoulders shaking as he stared at the monitor. “"We will fight until we win or we die," that’s a line one of the Galra used with Pidge when they tried to take over the Castle.”

“Are you sure?”

“You believed something _Zarkon_ had said?” Hunk exclaimed. “You know, the big bad we’re trying to take down? _That_ Zarkon?”

“I didn’t know it was him speaking!” Lance cried. “Besides, this is from 10,000 years ago, and he used to be the Black Paladin. Just because he’s evil _now_ doesn’t mean he’s not telling the truth.”

“That’s definitely Zarkon. I can’t believe it took me so long to recognize the voice.” Keith hissed.

“But then, who is he talking to?” Lance jumped off the table.

“One of the other Paladins? Who really cares. How could you believe such negative things about the Okumushu regardless?”

“Dude, two hours ago, neither of us knew anything about the Okumushu. Why are you already in love with them?” Worry laced Lance’s tone.

Hunk shrugged. “It’s like a little voice in my head telling me to trust them. Sort of like with the Lions, except with words instead of images and feelings.” He brought over the mini-screen, showing Lance and Keith the documents he had been reading. “These weren’t too hard to find, it was right on what would be the Earth equivalent of the data server without any firewalls.”

Lance grabbed the datapad, leaning towards Keith so he could read the text as well. “The Oldest demanded to learn the runes of the Druids, the most knowledgeable of all the stars,” he read out loud. “denied by his show of force and might, the Oldest hung himself from the lowest branch of the Tree Above the Well That Knows All for 13 cycles, staring into it’s depths so intensely that his right eye never left the Well. With the knowledge at his disposal, the Oldest learned the secrets of the Past and Future, of events that would yet pass. All others bowed at the Radiance of the Oldest for this dedication to pursue the Truth and bless the rest of the worlds with his words. What the actual quiznak is this?”

“One of the stories of the Okumushu.” Hunk replied. “Don’t they sound impressive?”

“Are you sure this is about the Okumushu?” Keith grabbed the datapad from Lance. “I don’t see that word anywhere in these texts.”

“Not to mention that this story sounds vaguely familiar.” Lance’s eyebrows furrowed as he tried to remember.

“Now you’re just nitpicking.” Hunk sniffed. “Come on, Lance. Just admit the Okumushu should be back in the universe, imagine how helpful they would be against the Galra!”

“Well, I mean…. They sound impressive?” Keith was right. There was no mention of the Okumushu anywhere in the text, just that Oldest character. Which could have been a name for the Okumushu in an earlier text that Hunk read and he forgot to mention it? 

Something was up, that much was clear. 

“Snorri Sturluson!” Keith shot up, nearly stumbling with his speed.

Hunk and Lance glanced at each other before staring at Keith with matching confused stares. “Who?”

“Snorri Sturluson?” Keith looked at them both. “The dude who wrote the _Prose Edda_? And the _Younger Edda_? The Norse mythology books back in the – what was it? – 12 th century, I think. How have you not heard of him?”

“ _12_ _th century_? Keith, that was like,” Lance wiggled his fingers up and down to help with the math. “Over a thousand years ago? How do you know this shit?”

“Assuming that we’re still following a relatively close time pattern as Earth.” Hunk said quietly.

“Yeah, assuming a – yeah that.” Lance sighed. As much as he loved Hunk, the yellow paladin’s ability to give out practical and reasonable points was sometimes not needed, nor wanted. Lance didn’t want to think of how maybe Earth was spinning faster as they were traveling farther and farther away. If – when – Lance ever got a chance to go back, would his family still be there? Would Varadero Beach still look the same?

“Um… the History Channel?” Keith said after a long awkward pause. “They would put on documentaries about the end of the world, Ragnarok from Norse Mythology was a regular and always mentioned the guy. So I read the books.”

Lance was grateful to Keith for breaking him out of his thoughts. “The History Channel has documentaries? I thought that was all conspiracy theories filmed with actors?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah, documentaries. I mean, they were right about the aliens, weren’t they?”

Lance gaped as his mind struggled to make a comeback. Because Keith was _right_? The History Channel, which he had only watched a few times here and there when one of his family members had it playing in the living room, had been right about the aliens. Or at the very least, the existence of aliens. He was still doubtful about the aliens having a hand in the “similar” pyramids across South America and Africa.

“He’s got you there, Lance.” Hunk crowed.

“Thanks for your undying support, buddy.” What else could Lance say? Comebacks were so difficult to come up with these days. 

“Not a problem.” Hunk slapped a hand on Lance’s shoulders. “But back to Snorri, what about him sounded familiar Keith?”

To his credit, Keith dropped the smug grin expressed at Lance’s expense. Lance was back to only considering putting glitter in his mullet. “Not him personally, but one of his stories.” Keith frowned. “It was one with Odin, the Allfather of all the Norse Pantheon and how he wanted to learn the runes of the other race…I can’t remember what they were though.”

“The Vanir?” Lance jutted in. “That was the myth of the Well of Mimir, right?” Now it was Lance’s turn to be gawked at.

“What?” Lance said defensively. “Just cause I hated reading text books, doesn’t mean I hate reading. Honestly guys, I read tons of myths from all over as a kid. Do you know how long I would have to wait for the Space Mag to send a new issue?”

“But you didn’t know who Snorri Sturluson was.”

“Oh, shut it Keith. I know stories not the people who wrote it.”

“…Okay?”

“Ahem.” Hunk coughed. “Still not sure how this tale of the Okumushu is anything like an old Earth myth. Anyone want to cue the engineer in?”

“Well, in the myth,” Keith explained, “Odin was the figure who hung himself on the tree to learn the runes, aka the alphabet from this other race, the Vanir.”

“Which were like elves, but not Tolkien elves, but also sort of like Tolkien elves.” Lance interjected.

“Yes, thank you Lance. Anyways, the Well of Mimir or the Well of Knowledge was like this well that had a severed head in it or something that had access to all knowledge in the realms. So Odin hung himself in the tree for nine days, sacrificed his eye to the Well so he could be omniscient, and learned the alphabet.” Keith shrugged. “Basically, that story you showed us is the almost exactly the same as the one from Earth over a thousand years ago.”

“Huh. Weird.” Hunk looked doubtful. “Maybe this group came to Earth and influenced a story?”

“How though?” All three of them were facing each other/one another, Keith to Lance’s right and Hunk to his left, the screens and data tablets put aside as they collaborated. “According to the scarce data we have on the Okumushu, they vanished tens of _thousands_ years ago. Any written stories on Earth began earliest five thousand years ago.”

“Guys, maybe we should ask Coran?” Keith said hesitantly. “He may know more?”

“Ugh,” Lance threw his hands up in the air. “It’s times like these when I wish I had a Well of Mimir so I could know everything.”

“That’s a lot of things you don’t know, you sure there’s enough room in that well?” Keith teased.

“Not if I throw you in it first! Then maybe you would learn how much you don’t know.”

“Okay seriously, you guys really need to –“ Alarms rang out in the hallways and rooms, horns blasting loud enough to wake the entire castle if it were full of people.

“Paladins! I need you at your Lions immediately! The Galra have found us! I repeat, the Galra have found us! Defensive maneuvers are to be utilized as soon as you get in your hangars!”

“Princess! It’s an entire fleet with a Battle Cruiser! We’ll need to move out of range as quickly as possible!” They could hear Coran shouting in the background.

The Paladins were still only for a moment, just to process the message, before they all sprung into movement at once.

The worst part about being a Paladin – for Lance at any rate – was that any downtime they tried to have would usually be ruined. The Galra really just had the worst timing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because the Evillous Chronicles is a massive clusterfuck of videos, mangas, and light novels, I'm including a small list of videos that sort of, only barely, correlate with the current chapter. Emphasis on the sort of because again: massive with plot holes the size of Jupiter, but still so wonderful. 
> 
> Videos from the Evillious Chronicles  
>  
> 
> [Blood Stained Switch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvnzaXazuAo&list=PL77Nr4Dbj1312tmywmr1gfnyPLmiYGPkj&index=2/)  
> [Barisol’s Child Was an Only Child](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om67r3bT86A&list=PL77Nr4Dbj1312tmywmr1gfnyPLmiYGPkj&index=1/)


	2. A Hero's Armor is Always Crimson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you for my artists [Nie Nie](http://captainfreakishlynerdyme.tumblr.com/), [Connie](http://chim8szua.tumblr.com/), and [PeppleMint](http://pepplemint.tumblr.com/) and beta [Asena](http://neverdoingmuch.tumblr.com/) for all the amazing work they've done.

“I need to grab my armor!”

“We don’t have time for that, we need get to the Lions now!”

“What about the bayards?”

“I have mine, now run faster!”

“Well, I don’t have mine, and neither does Hunk! I have to run past the sleeping hall to get to Blue anyways, I’ll pick them both up!”

The drills Allura had them running constantly were finally paying off; they all split, each sprinting to their separate hangars on opposite sides of the south end of the Castle of Lions. Lance barely slowed down as he reached the rooms designated for sleep, waiting only until the door had slid open enough for him to slide through to run and grab his Bayard. It only took him another few seconds to dash into Hunk’s room and hook the Yellow Paladin’s bayard to his pants.

By the time he made it to Blue, he was panting. Thankfully, his helmet had been waiting for him in the Lion and he quickly slipped in on to join in on the cacophony of voices desperately trying to form a plan.

“Everyone! I need you to all be quiet!” Shiro snapped. “First and foremost, where is Lance?”

“Present!” Lance really hoped his breathing didn’t sound as laborious as it felt; he was a cross-country runner, better at pacing his runs for distance, not full out sprinting. “Sorry, I had to grab my bayard. I got Hunk’s too, in case we need his giant cannon.”

“Did you manage to grab mine as well?” Pidge piped up on the comms. Lance was already shaking his head before Pidge had even finished their question, even though the video feed wasn’t on.

“Nope, didn’t check your room. Sorry, Pidge.” Lance said into the comms.

“Psh, n-b-d. I was just hoping to be able to use it while as Voltron today; I still don’t know what it’s going be. I’ll save it for the next fight.”

“Paladins!” Shiro’s voice was strained. “We need immediate deployment to engage in the Galra fleet. There’s also a battle cruiser giving out heavy fire. Focus on drawing its attention away from the Castle of Lions.”

“So what, we all go in blasting, taking out as many ships as we can?” Keith asked.

“Keith and Lance, your Lions have long distance beams they can shoot. You two are the first wave, blast those ships.”

“Got it.” “Confirmed.” The Blue and Red Paladins chimed.

“Hunk, you are the heavy hitter. Use the cover of the ice and fire to fly in and take down as many as you can. Pidge and I will be coming in behind you to cover. Now go!” Shiro barked.

_Blue, we’re up!_ Lance could feel the Blue Lion’s excitement at the prospect of the upcoming battle. Lance pulled down on the handle, the mechanical lion pulsing as the engines started, the track sending Lion and Paladin off and into space.

Lance saw Keith fly up to him in the Red Lion, stopping a distance away from the Blue Lion. “Alright, Blue! Let’s ice these suckers!” Blue roared her approval, and Lance could feel the coldness of the ice as it shot from her mouth into a squad of Galra fighter ships, instantly freezing them. To his left, he could see the Red Lion destroying another squad with her fire.

It was hard to keep track of everyone in the battle; Lance could see flashes of green, yellow, and black as the Lions dove in and out of the fleet, destroying all the fighters in their range. Lance and Keith had taken care of a number of the preliminary fighters and were slowly moving closer to the center of the fleet, aiming more and more of their attacks at the giant battle cruiser.

“Guys, we’re going to have to form Voltron to stop this cruiser!” Keith shouted over the communications line. “None of our attacks are working right now!”

“Give us a few ticks to get to you!” Pidge was using her invisibility cloak liberally, hiding the Green Lion from view only to pop back into eyesight a few seconds later to slice another mid-size ship in two. She was lucky that the ships weren’t looking at their radar systems to track her movements.

“Paladins, we’ve managed to move the Castle of Lions out of direct range of the battle cruiser’s ion cannon.” Allura sounded as calm as ever, even with explosions bursting around her. “We’ll keep moving and try to defend you to the best of our ability.”

“Try not to take to long, Paladins!” Coran sounded downright cheerful. “We can take a maximum of two, maybe three hits from the ion cannon, provided it’s still the same level of intensity as the previous battles, before the defenses drop.”

“Coran, you suck at alleviating the pressure!” Lance muttered, swerving in Blue to avoid a fighter flying at top speed trying to crash into him. One of Blue’s claws snagged the fighter as it got close and swatted it away. “I’m on the starboard side of the cruiser, I’ll try to ice it while you guys get here and see if that does anything.”

“Move, Lance!” Keith screamed. “Incoming underneath!”

The controls sang in his hands as he veered to the side, narrowly missing a beam from one of the laser cannons on the bigger fighter ships.

“Try and fry me, see what happens.” Lance hissed. Ice crashed into the ship, spearing through the hull and spreading to encompass the entire middle section of the vessel. “Score ten for Lance, the most amazing human in the galaxy, zero for the Galra!” He cheered. He could feel Blue purring in the back of his mind; pleased with the effectiveness she and Lance brought their enemies down.

“That was great Lance, but please focus!” Shiro grunted, barrel rolling to avoid a barrage of missiles. The Yellow Lion flew into a cluster of small ships, mouth gaping wide to grab and toss enemy ships into one another. Explosions framed the Lion as the last of the ships nearby were destroyed.

“Woohoo!” Hunk cheered. “That was some impressive moves there, Yellow! Let’s see if we – Oh Pork Bellies!” The battle cruiser’s ion cannon had been aimed toward the Lions, energy already gathering up at the head to be released.

“More incoming fighters!” Pidge cried through the comms, “It looks like an entire second fleet coming in from the other side!”

“We’re getting boxed in?” Keith yelled as a new squadron of fighters rushed towards him.

“Keith!” Lance pressed down on the controls, zooming towards the Red Lion, head butting a flock of the ships, forcing some of them away from Keith. The green lion shimmered into view, slicing a few of the ships on the port side of the cluster with the arrow-blade in its massive mouth.

With a yell, flames burst from the Red Lion, its fire more than hot enough to melt through the metal of the enemy ships. Keith flew in circles around the remaining Galra fighters aiming for him, occasionally jumping on ships that weren’t currently burning to push them down.

“Is everyone okay?” Hunk grunted as he tossed the fighters in the Yellow Lion’s maw into the battle cruiser, the combined explosion tearing off a tower on the giant ship.

It didn’t prevent the ion cannon from firing though.

“Move, move, move!” Lance wasn’t sure who was yelling through the communication channels – it could have been every one of the Voltron team. The ion cannon was still firing, one long high energy beam that was nearly impossible to keep avoiding while trying to dodge missiles and laser blasts from the remaining single-pilot Galra fighters, not to mention the debris from the broken ships.

“Where the hell is Shiro?” Keith shouted. “We need to form Voltron now!”

“I don’t think they’re really giving us a chance to form – argh!” Lance was pushed into the dashboard, narrowing avoiding smashing his face into the controls, by a surprise blast that hit Blue in the back. “Blue, are you alright?” The Lion purred in his head and Lance let out a sigh of relief.

“I got held up, sorry guys!” Shiro was flying in literal circles, trying to shake off persistent fighters from his metaphorical and mechanical tail. Every few seconds, Shiro would maneuver around, managing to sneak up from the underside of the ships to slice them open, only to dodge the next dozen fighter ships.

“I’m coming to you, Shiro!” The Green Lion vanished, Pidge activating the invisibility-cloaking device to sneak past the Galra keeping the four younger Paladins trapped between the ion cannon and a minefield of missiles.

Just because they could no longer see the Green Lion, didn’t mean the Galra ceased firing in her direction. Lance’s brow furrowed; he was closest to Pidge in the sky and she needed some sort of help to duck around the Galra trying to force them into the ion cannon beam.

It was a good thing Lance excelled at creating distractions.

Pushing down on the throttle, the Blue Lion surged to the side, into the space where Pidge had been only moments ago, directly into the firing range.

“Lance, what are you doing?!” Voices shrieked at him through the helmet speakers.

“Chill, guys!” Lance grinned, even though no one could see him. It wasn’t too long ago that he would be turning around on the stained pilot seat at the Garrison to give that same grin to Hunk and Pidge in the stimulator. “Blue’s defenses should hold for a few more ticks. Pidge, you better have been moving your butt to Shiro!”

“I’m clear, now start dodging, Tailor boy! Shiro, I’ll be coming in at your nine!”

“Please stop throwing yourself in front of people trying to kill you, Lance.” Hunk sounded pained through the comms. “It is _so_ not good for my blood pressure.”

“Paladins, status update! How are things out there?” Allura snapped. “Coran! Lower the power in the shield and fire the Castle’s ion cannon!”

“Already on it, Princess!”

“It’s a bit heavy down here, Princess.” Keith took down another few fighters with his Lion. “And by little I mean – Quiznak, you annoying piece of space dust, why won’t you just explode already!”

“Keith I don’t think they can hear you from inside Red.”

_Blue, are we all set for more ice?_ Lance sent the question to his Lion. While the ice beam was fantastic, it usually took time to recharge after depleting the energy source, usually around thirty ticks or so. Blue sent an affirmative thought back, and Lance patted her consol in appreciation. With the press of a few buttons, Lance aimed and froze a good dozen ships, easing up the firepower aiming towards the Paladins.

A beam streaked above from the Castle of Lions, slamming into the main battle cruiser. The cruiser’s ion cannon shorted out from the impact.

“Thanks, dudes!” Hunk cheered, as he flew out of the box the Galra had cornered them in, heading to the underside of the battle cruiser and spearing it with the claws on his Lion. The battle cruiser flagged down, it’s emergency systems lighting up the deck as the engines failed to keep them in the sky.

“I don’t think we can start celebrating just yet.” Lance watched with horror as a new battle cruiser came into view, much larger and more menacing-looking. Weapons pointed out on every side of the cruiser, charged and ready to fire at a moments notice.

“ _Another_ one?” Keith cursed in Korean, a language Lance wished he knew because the long line of expletives coming from Keith sounded fascinating.

“Another one and more single-fighter ships.” Hunk groaned. “Seriously, how did they even find us to set up this attack?”

“Not _just_ another one.” Coran spoke into the comms. “But an Imperial Battle Cruiser used for only the highest of ranking soldiers in Zarkon’s forces! Not sure if it’s any better than the other cruisers, but it does have a fancier sounding name.”

“We’ll focus on that inquiry after we’re done here!” Pidge yelled.

They could hear Allura yelling at Coran to do something that was muffled by a nearby explosion before speaking into the comms. “Shiro, Pidge, everything alright with you both?”

“We’re handling it.” Even while weaving in and out of Galra ships, Shiro managed to stay composed. It was admirable.

Lance chanced a quick look to where the Black and Green Lions were. They were both able to keep taking down a good number of fighters with ease… but they just kept coming. The Galra seemed to be willing to sacrifice an entire fleet, maybe two, just to catch the Paladins and their Lions. It was an effective strategy, but crude.

“Can someone please tell the Galra that they shouldn’t be attacking when I’m busy working on destroying them in a laboratory?” Pidge swiped at a nearby fighter with her Lion, electricity dancing off the metal claws. “It’s extremely inconvenient being interrupted in the middle of plotting demises.”

“Sure, go ahead Pidge.” Keith said dryly. “I’m sure they’ll open their line of communications to acquiesce to your request.”

“Keep up that sarcasm, see what happens!” Pidge grunted as the Green Lion was smashed by large debris. “I will so be using their carcasses as spare parts when we’re through with – Baynard it all with pliers!”

“Pidge!”

“What happened, are you okay?”

With all of them speaking at once, it was difficult even for Lance to make out all the words from the com.

“I’m fine! Green’s giving me warning signs though.” Pidge snarled. “One of those lasers caught up in an opening in the armor and friend some circuits. _Important_ circuits, those quiznaks. Hunk! You and I are modifying this armor, take note!”

“Remind me when I’m not flying around for my life in a giant cuddly metal robot that eats other ships!”

A beeping noise caught Lance’s attention, and he looked down at the console. The little radar in the top corner beeped erratically, dots filling up the screen by the dozen. “Uh, guys. Are your radars catching what’s coming right below us?”

“Holy shit, holy shit.” Hunk muttered. “That’s a whole ‘nother fleet. Guys, we can’t fight _three_ fleets at the same time!”

“And they seem to be doing a great job at keeping us apart so we can’t form Voltron.” Keith said grimly. “I know I would never say this, but I think a tactical retreat is in order.”

“That would be the best decision, if we can all get back to the castle. Allura? Coran? How quickly can you get a worm hole up and running?” Shiro flew the Black Lion close to its Green counterpart, covering most of the shots still firing at them.

“Give me a few ticks, we’ll need to divert some power.” Allura responded. “Try to get back here as soon as possible.”

“Alright Paladins, you heard her. Move it!”

Shiro and Pidge started spiraling upwards, taking out any small ships that came in too close. With the first battle cruiser out of commission, Hunk, Keith, and Lance were able to fly out, evading the individual ships with ease.

“Does anyone else find it a bit alarming that the Imperial Battle Cruiser is just sitting there?” Lance shivered as he dodged a few incoming beams. “I swear it’s – Hunk! Kei-““ Lance was cut off from whatever it was he going to say by grunts and half-stifled screams.

The fleet that he had seen flying below them didn’t have a battle cruiser. But faced with hundreds of single flier ships each equipped with its own mini-sized ion cannon, one or two much slower battle cruisers with full-powered ion cannons seemed less threatening. At least in Lance’s own humble and relevant opinion.

Well, at least now he knew why the third fleet that had appeared hadn’t moved from beneath them. Why ruin a brilliant tactical decision of cutting off the Lions from retreating below and focus all of their firepower on the targets with relatively little loss? The high-energy beams from the mini ion cannons struck at the three Paladins, pushing them farther away from where Shiro and Pidge waited near the Castle of Lions –“Tractor beam!” Keith shouted – and into the grasp of the waiting Imperial Battle Cruiser.

“Keith! Hunk! Lance!” Shiro was yelling into the comms. Lance groaned, his face hurt from being flung into console yet again. Blood dripped from his nose to his lip, and Lance used his sleeve to wipe it off. Disgusting, utterly disgusting, but letting the blood coagulate on his face would be so much worse. Alarms rang all around him, Blue was screaming in pain in his head, unable to fly away from the looming massive ship. Several of the blasts from the small fighters had destroyed parts of Blue’s armor, frying exposed wires and parts.

“We’re all alive, Shiro.” Hunk grunted. “Least I think we are. Bruises and contusions are the worst of it for me. Can’t say the same for Yellow though.”

“You guys need to get out of there right now,” Pidge sounded scared, “you’re being towed into the Imperial ship!”

“A bit hard to miss that, Pidge.” Keith was valiantly trying to move Red, Lance could hear him smash multiple buttons at a time, hoping for something to fly him out of the tractor beam. The third fleet continued to fire upwards, making it impossible for Pidge and Shiro to fly down to their rescue.

“Shiro, why isn’t everyone at the Castle yet?” Allura crackled through Lance’s speakers. “There’s only a short window of time for the wormhole –“

“Lance, Keith, and Hunk were ambushed.” Shiro interrupted. “That third fleet had ion cannons that blasted them to the Imperial Ship. And now they’re beaming them in and _we can’t do a thing_.” Lance winced as he heard the sound of a metal fist smashing against metal paneling.

“Quiznak.” Allura breathed heavily. “Coran – “

“There’s nothing we can do, Princess.” Coran was uncharacteristically serious. “Scanners show the Green Lion is barely functional, and won’t be able to do much without heavy repair. The Blue, Red, and Yellow Lions are worse off; even if we were able to disable that tractor beam now, we wouldn’t be able to escape the Galra forces. We need to retreat and regroup.”

“You want us to abandon them?” Pidge screeched. “No way, not happening. I’ll make Green fly in circles if I have to. _We are not leaving them_!”

“Don’t be stupid, Pidge!” Keith said sharply. “You try to fly here, somehow dodging those ion beams, and you’ll just get captured to! Then the Galra will have more of the lions and be closer to getting Voltron!”

“As much as I hate to agree with Mullet-head, he’s right.” Lance didn’t even try to stop his hands from shaking. “Can’t risk losing you too, Pidginator.”

Pidge sniffed. “Stop being stupid. Stop it you –“

“Pidge, move!” Shiro drove his Lion into the Green Lion pushing it away from the laser beam that would have hit it straight on. “We need to go!”

“Go, you guys! We’ll be fine!” Everyone could hear the false bravado Hunk laced with his words. “Just come rescue us as soon as you can, please!”

“Guys…” Shiro trailed off, unable to form any other words.

“Go already!” Keith shouted. Lance couldn’t help but contribute a “seriously” to emphasize.

“We’ll come back for you!” Pidge nearly growled as the Black Lion pushed her towards the now open wormhole where the Castle of Lions was waiting. Galra ships were now focusing their firepower on the two escaping Lions, not content with only three of the five Lions. “We’ll be back before you have time to even blink in front of the Galra!”

There wasn’t much else to do but watch as the Castle of Lions vanished into the wormhole that opened up behind them. The tractor beam rendered Blue immobile, no matter how many buttons Lance pressed.

“Stay strong, Paladins. Pidge is right, we will be back for you.”

It was the last thing they heard over the comms from Allura.

Lance swallowed heavily. The Imperial Ship was barely a tick away now and growing ever larger as the Lions were pulled into the ship’s hangar bay. From there the Galra soldiers would probably take them in for interrogation and torture sessions.

On his console, the video feed opened showing Hunk looking as scared as Lance felt, while Keith hid behind his a façade of anger. Keith wasn’t too hard to read after spending months with him.

“Hey guys. Looks like we’re in a bit of a pickle, aren’t we?”

“We don’t need the dumb jokes, Lance.” Keith glared. “I have my bayard; soon as we’re brought on board, I’ll be fighting as many as I can. Maybe I can disable the tractor beam so you two can get out.”

“Now who is being stupid.” Lance rolled his eyes. “That’s a suicide mission, Keith. Don’t even think about it.”

“It’s not stupid, it’s a plan.” Keith insisted. “Something I know is difficult for you to grasp sometimes – “

“Difficult for me to grasp? Charging in with nothing but a toothpick is going to do nothing instead end up with you riddled with laser beams!”

“Guys, please don’t argue. Not now.” Hunk’s lips wobbled. “We’re about to be boarded by the Galra and we don’t even know if we’ll be seeing each other again for a while. So before that happens… I just want you both to know that I love you both.”

Lance could feel his own eyes start to water. _Mierda_ , he was terrified. He didn’t want to die alone in a Galra ship; he didn’t want any of his team to die on a Galra ship. Especially not Hunk. Or Keith.

“We’ll be fine, buddy.” Lance tried to smile, he wasn’t sure how successful his attempt was. “These Galra are nothing compared to the Princess’s normal training days. We can relax until the Lions repair themselves and Pidge and Shiro create enough of a distraction so we can bust out.”

“Yeah,” Keith added, “what Lance said. We’re the paladins of Voltron. Total piece of cake.” Keith was still fidgety, Lance could see his fingers tapping against his Lion’s dashboard on the corner of the screen.

“Hunk? I love you too.” Lance made sure to keep looking at the camera so Hunk could see him. “And you too Keith, although you make it so difficult with that mullet.”

“Thanks, Lance.” Hunk froze as he felt his Lion clang against something.

They had arrived inside of the Imperial Battle Cruiser.

 

_________________________________________________

 

“Be strong, Hunk. Come on, you can do this, game face on.” Hunk muttered to himself as Yellow’s doors were pried open. “Think of how great the Okumushu were, channel that inner Paladin in you.”

“Yeah buddy.” They had turned off the video feeds, relying solely on the crackling audio channels, desperation fueling their need to remain in contact with each other for as long as possible. Zarkon wanted the Lions, not the Paladins. Which meant the three of them were possibly regarded no higher than thorny weeds in Zarkon’s eyes. He’d terminate them with barely a blink.

Hunk might not get to cuddle with Lance again. He might not see Keith laugh ever again. Pidge would have to finish all of their planned projects alone. He wouldn’t be able to see Shiro or Allura, or show Coran what Earth food was like and how much better it was than space goo.

“They’re not going to kill us.” Keith’s voice was strong, confident in his words. “They want all the Lions, right? They’ll want information. Also, Red’s particle barrier activated the moment the tractor beam dropped us inside. They aren’t getting inside.”

“Being kept alive to be tortured isn’t really high up on my list, Keith.” Lance was shivering; Hunk could just tell, even through the comms. “Especially since I got maybe ten ticks until the first droid pops his metal can into the cockpit. Blue’s too damaged to expend the energy for a particle barrier right now.”

“Same.” Hunk swallowed; dread sitting heavy in his chest. Yellow’s whispers to stay strong were soft, too soft for Hunk to feel any comfort.  He didn’t have his bayard, his cannon still hidden away with Lance.

“Blue said it’ll take a little while for her repair system to kick in.” Lance could be heard shifting around in his Lion.

“If you guys can take care of the droids coming into your Lions, I can charge outside and take care of the ones waiting outside.” Keith was stubborn.

Hunk was glad Lance was the one who scoffed first. “Don’t be stupid, Keith. Have you looked out your window? There’s like a gazillion guards out there. You’d never make it out of the ramp. Just stay in  –“ The comms cut off from Lance’s end.

“Lance? Lance!”

“Oh god, oh god.” Hunk chanted. Only a few ticks until the droids made it into his cockpit, he could hear them right outside the door shooting it repeatedly to gain access.

_You aren’t the one who should be afraid, Paladin._ The words were crystal clear in his head and sent a surge of calm through him, slightly easing his worry and fear. _These worms will not last long against you and I._

Hunk turned off the comms in Yellow and took a deep breath, preparing himself for the fight ahead. The last thing he wanted was for Keith to hear him get taken down by the Galra droids while he was stuck in Red.

God, he hoped Keith would be smart and stay inside Red. If at least one of them managed to live, well, Hunk still would be feeling that pang of queasiness in his gut. But objectively, two dying instead of three indicated greater odds of keeping the team alive as a whole. Mathematically, it was ideal. One was greater than none after all.

When the first head of the droid popped through the door, Hunk rushed at it, fists pounding down to crush circuitry and wires to the floor of the Yellow Lion’s cockpit.

 

[This fabulous art work is from Connie](http://chim8szua.tumblr.com/post/157455126281/for-crowoxys-chrono-story-the-chronicles-of-the)

 

In the end, it had taken nearly two-dozen sentries and Galra soldiers all clamoring inside the Yellow Lion before Hunk was cuffed with his arms behind his back and marched out to the hangar of the large ship.

“The yellow lion has been secured.” One of the soldiers reported, speaking loud enough for the officers deeper in the hangar bay to hear. Hunk grunted as he was gripped tightly by his elbows and pushed forward. From the corner of his eye, Hunk could see blasters trained on him, following his frog march further into the ship and possibly straight to a cell.

“Don’t worry, Woo-ooh-woo-ooh!” No, Lance wouldn’t… Hunk tried to turn just a little, just to catch a glimpse of the Blue Paladin because he _wouldn’t_. Except that this was Lance and of course he totally would. “Be happy, woo-ooh-woo-la-la! Don’t worry, be happy!”

Lance was singing. Lance was belching out words in some semblance of a tune while being dragged out of the Blue Lion, looking scuffed up with dried blood crusting around his lip and his jacket sporting some new tears.

“Hey you, Galra! Start putting some smiles on those faces of yours, instead of frowns. It’s impossible to wear a frown in the Candy Mountain Cave!” Lance laughed. “And you, fluffkins, ease up on the wrists will you?”

“Problems with your prisoner, Maxus?” Hunk’s Galra escort said dryly, only slowing down so Lance and Maxus could catch up to them.

“Not at all.” Maxus forced out, shaking Lance with the obvious frustration of someone who wanted to strangle the thing in front of them but couldn’t. Hunk was sure Keith could relate to that feeling. Probably also Allura.

“Woah, hey there!” Lance kicked backwards into Maxus’ knee. “Precious goods you’re squeezing and pushing here.”

Maxus grunted as Lance’s foot connected with his kneecap, not hard enough to injure, but with enough force behind it to feel it. Hunk might have felt sorry for the guy if he wasn’t a Galra soldier set on conquering the entire universe.

_Your friend’s method of torture is very unique. I shall need to keep it in mind._ The voice inside Hunk’s head had never sounded this clear before.

_It’s not really torture?_ Hunk tried thinking back. Perhaps thinking the words wasn’t the way of communication because Hunk never got a response. He didn’t even realize he had spaced out until a loud roar had Lance and Hunk’s Galra caretakers turning around in shock.

From the Red Lion, Keith had literally jumped out of the mouth in a blaze of fire, sword drawn out and ready to hack and slash. The first few droids fell to his blade with barely any resistance, the Galra focused solely on patrolling the particle barrier surrounding the Red Lion, preventing any outside force from coming in. They weren’t expecting the paladin to be stupid enough to leave the safety of the lion.

No one ever expects the Keith Inquisition, as Pidge and Lance would say.

But the Galra were a military force, and it wasn’t long until nearly every soldier and droid were shooting at him. It took an even shorter time once the initial shock wore off for laser beams to hit their target and send Keith skidding on the floor, smoking holes in his pants and shirt indicating where he had gotten hit.

“Keith!” Hunk strained against the cuffs, trying to pull away from the soldier and separate his wrists at the same time. 

“Bravo squad, initiate but don’t damage beyond measure! Emperor Zarkon wants them walking for the arena!” The soldier - possibly a commander based on his orders - that was gripping Hunk’s elbows shouted and shoved Hunk closer to Lance’s escort. Keith pushed himself off of the ground and snarled; Hunk could see his bloody knuckles still gripping his sword. Most of the Galra soldiers had tossed aside their weapons and were swarming the Red Paladin, who had started ducking away from the fists; swiping as best he could while crouched on the ground, his blade never connecting deeply enough to leave more than cuts. The Galra soldiers were prepared, more so than their sentry droids and knew how to evade the frantic swings of a sword.

 Hunk was so morbidly captivated watching Keith scuffle against the Galra, he didn’t feel something clicking against his waist. He probably wouldn’t have noticed it at all if Lance hadn’t hummed near the back of his neck.

 “Lance!” Hunk rapidly looked over at his best friend, cataloguing all of the cuts and bruises that marred his face, and at the holes in his jacket and jeans. Lance weakly lifted his arms in front of him, still connected at his wrists to point at Hunk’s belt.

 “Cannon is locked and not yet loaded, mi amor.” Lance grinned as he whispered to Hunk. Looking around, Hunk spotted the escorts only a few feet away, both vigilantly watching Keith getting tackled from behind and cuffed. His sword was kicked away into a corner where the Red Paladin couldn’t reach it.

 “Well, that worked as a diversionary tactic.” Lance muttered, loud enough for Hunk to hear. “The bayard is locked onto your belt, so we’re good unless they want to strip us.”

 “How are your shoulders?” Hunk’s arms were still locked behind him, but he had never had the flexibility Lance possessed; it wasn’t his limbs had been equated to wet noodles more than once.

Before Lance could answer, the Galra soldiers roughly grabbed them both, holding them in place until two soldiers dragging Keith marched up to the group.

“I would have expected Paladins to be putting up more of a fight,” one of the soldiers sneered, shaking Keith. Not entirely unexpectedly, Keith growled at him.

“Needed a full squadron of you just to jump him, didn’t you?” Lance half-sang. “If only one of us is enough for fifty of you fluff balls, we won’t be here very long.” 

“Enough with the chitter!” The Galra holding Hunk snarled as several Galra in the crowd tried to grab at Lance. “Hold them and move out! Emperor Zarkon is waiting! Maxus! If the blue one continues to ramble, gag him if you must!”

“Sir!”

Lance was pushed forward, Maxus gripping his shoulder tightly. Hunk was relieved that the Galra hadn’t seem to have noticed Lance’s arms were no longer behind his back. Or that Hunk had gained a new device on his hip. Keith was most likely unhappy about losing his bayard, but what did he think would happen if he directly attacked an entire squadron of Galra soldiers? The smart decision would have been for him to stay in the Red Lion safely shielded by the particle barrier, and then try to escape. Not jump out in a background of flames - most likely courtesy of the Red Lion’s own dramatic flair - and get himself captured along with Lance and Hunk.

Hunk bit his lip worriedly, focusing his gaze on Lance’s back. He couldn’t see Keith, who was being pushed somewhere behind him; but knowing Keith, he was glaring at their captors trying to set them on fire with his eyes alone.

_Vermin._ Hunk started as the voice he could only hear with difficulty thus far, resonated clearly within his head. _How dare they order me around! Do they not know who I am?!_ The words were crystal clear and Hunk shivered as his head started aching.

_Um, hello?_ Hunk thought as hard as he could. As always, silence was his only response. Was the voice he was hearing in his head the result of too many days in space?

A shove and Hunk felt the claws digging into his arms vanish. His legs were kicked out from underneath him and he slammed into the metal floor hard enough to jar his kneecaps.

He really wished he had managed to grab his armor before jumping into his Lion.

“Well, I’m feeling welcome here,” Lance grunted to Hunk’s left, “Ever heard of thing called hospitality, squirrels? It might help you make some new friends!” A talkative Lance was a nervous Lance. A silent Lance was a terrified Lance. A blabbering Lance was Lance at his most stressed, using his words to try and lessen his fear. Hunk had known Lance long enough to create an encyclopedia of Lance gestures and traits.

There were no lights on in the room they had been marched to. Purple tint highlighted the open walls and metal beams, making the room seem even larger and more foreboding. The room wasn’t enclosed, the walls made out of some glass material to view the open space the ship was flying through in all directions. Hunk felt ill; he had only just gotten comfortable seeing a much smaller window of space through his Lion’s windshield.

He just wouldn’t look to the sides of the room.

In front of them, the room ended at a raised dais where a large chair stood ominously. It was tall, easily passing 10 meters in height. At the top, it was painted a deep purple – just like everything else in the room – the metal tapering off into spikes all the way down to the armrests. It was a throne made for a tyrant; large, intimidating, and dangerous.

“Friends are not something the Galra are interested in, human.”

Keith hissed as heavy boots strode in front of them to sit on the grotesque chair at the end of the mammoth hall the Paladins had been marched to.

Zarkon looked more skeleton than Galra, skin stretched tightly over bone, purple irises’ sharply regarding the Paladins on their knees in front of him. It took all Hunk had not to shrink away in terror.

_Traitor! That useless scum who delayed my return!_  

“So these are three of the five paladins who rebel against my empire.” Zarkon was massive, Hunk hadn’t really noticed that the last time he saw him when he had been gunning Keith and his Lion down all those months ago.

“Lord Zarkon, what do you wish for us to do with them?” The soldiers who had dragged the three of them to the Galra Throne Room were bowing, hands clasped across their chest, their eyes never left the Emperor’s.

“Leave. I will speak to these… pests alone. I will call you to pick up what remains.” Hunk gulped as Zarkon looked at him.

“As you wish, Lord Zarkon.” There was no hesitation as the crowd of Galra soldiers left the Paladins alone with the Emperor of the Galra Empire and former Black Paladin of Voltron.

The silence was near deafening as Zarkon did nothing but stare at the Paladins for several long minutes, until the last of the footsteps faded away.

 “So…” Lance coughed, “There’s no weird alien mind probing thing, right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Videos from the Evillious Chronicles: 
> 
> [The King Who Was Born From Mud](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRPmOxeEDEY/)  
> [Neomaria of the Inverted Gravestone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNM_-Um7KKg/)  
> [A Hero's Armor Is Always Crimson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=309qVZlYpe4/)
> 
> These videos really have nothing to do with the chapter except that they are excellent to listen to while writing.


	3. Song I Heard Somewhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things escalate in an almost comprehensive manner. By which I mean not at all. Hunk gets possessed, Haggar just wants someone to listen to them talk. And Keith keeps running in the wrong directions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly you guys, [Asena](http://neverdoingmuch.tumblr.com/) is the best beta ever because things making sense????? whaaaaattttt? 
> 
> A big thank you to the artists [Nie Nie](http://captainfreakishlynerdyme.tumblr.com/), [Connie](http://chim8szua.tumblr.com/), and [PeppleMint](http://pepplemint.tumblr.com/) because without them I don't think anyone would read this.
> 
> Additional note: I use they/them for Haggar because I feel like they're more neutral about gender (why does it matter???) I hope that's not too weird for people!

“Tell me, does amputation in your species work the same way it does with the Galra?” A croaking old voice from the corner behind the throne dragged everyone’s attention away from Zarkon. When Keith strained his ears, he could hear fabric swishing across the floor, his eyes were transfixed on the rather tall hooded figure gliding from the south corner of the room to the throne. Their dark colored robes seemed to suck what little light the room provided.

“I had been expecting you to wait, Haggar.”

_Haggar_. That was the name from Shiro’s nightmares. That was the name that caused his foster brother to wake up in the middle of the night, sweaty and shaky and all too terrified to fall back asleep.

It didn’t matter that bruises the size of golf balls decorated his legs or that cuts stung with even the smallest twitch, with all the adrenaline coursing through his system Keith knew his injuries would hardly hinder his ability to move. Especially if it was towards the Druid that stood attentively at Zarkon’s side.

All that mattered was ending the witch so she couldn’t torment Shiro any longer.

“Why wait when I could come see these new… pilots for myself.” Light shone from her scraggly fingers and a sudden heaviness blanketed Keith’s shoulders, making it nearly impossible for him to stand on his feet.

“Red Paladins are always the same,” The druid muttered. “always just charging head first into everything like idiots.” 

“Come now, these prisoners are our guests.” It was a struggle to keep his head raised at Zarkon with whatever magic Haggar was casting on him.

“You know, if we’re guests, then doesn’t that mean that we should be able to leave whenever we wish?” Lance rolled his shoulders as he spoke. Keith turned to look at him, noticing for the first time that the Blue Paladin had his arms in front of him rather than tied behind like Hunk and himself. Did he… rotate his shoulders all the way around? Or was that just how he was captured? 

“Y-yeah! You know, like the rules of hospitality and all that?” Hunk fidgeted when the Druid and the Galra Emperor glanced in his direction. But he didn’t show a glimpse of fear; something for which Keith felt a dash of fierce pride for his teammate.

“Prisoners of war don’t get hospitality.” Zarkon tapped his fingers against the armchair of his throne. “But tell us where the other lions are, and perhaps you’ll get thrown into an easier gladiator ring with all of your limbs instead of just a leg remaining.”

“Throw in the life of the witch,” Keith growled, “and maybe I’ll consider it.”

“Keith!” It was eerie how in sync the other two Paladins were sometimes. Keith ignored their outburst, straining his muscles to keep glaring at Zarkon, his instincts screaming at him to just drop kick the hooded alien in front of him.

It was almost disappointing how little the Druid reacted.

“Kin, spare me the folly of Nemesis.” Was all Haggar said. Keith roared, his body bending low to the ground before his legs pushed as he was running, made awkward with his hands tied behind his back, to body slam into the Druid. He never made contact with the alien, purple smoke substituting her place as Keith plowed straight through, landing face-first in front of Zarkon’s throne. Keith gritted his teeth in frustration; damn those magic-wielding annoyances!

“I don’t really need all three of you alive.” 

Zarkon was leaning down from his throne, nearly bending his body in half to reach the much smaller human and place his claws at Keith’s throat. “One would be enough to talk and to fight.” The claws scraped up and down his jugular, and Keith could feel his heart race in anticipation. Already his brain was formulating ways to move away and give at least one kick to Zarkon’s knees. 

“Wait, wait!” Keith could hear Hunk protesting, but his eyes never left Zarkon’s.

“Interesting. The child was able to throw off my spell.” Haggar’s gravely voice causing Keith to twitch. “He would make a good addition to the ring, my lord.”

“Indeed.” Claws moved away from Keith’s throat and a light tap from Zarkon’s foot sent Keith tumbling backwards with a grunt, his shoulders aching as his entire body weight landed on his still bound arms. Hunk rushed forward and knelt next to him, eyes wide and fingers itching towards the bayard Keith had just noticed was attached in the belt at his back. When had Lance found time to give Hunk his bayard? Did Lance still have his? Keith’s own bayard was lost somewhere in the hangar of the Galra Imperial Cruiser, or maybe it had been picked up by one of the soldiers and held in some place else.

Maybe his insistence to join the other two paladins was a bit hasty, as now there wasn’t a confirmed exit strategy in place and Keith could only rely on his hand-to-hand skills for defense. But sitting idly behind a particle barrier in Red and watching his comrades being manhandled by the Galra soldiers released a surge of protectiveness Keith had no idea he had possessed. Hunk’s arms covered in scratches from where metal had marked him and Lance’s bloody face and ruined jacket – it was his favorite and only jacket from Earth! – had Keith transforming his bayard to a sword and leaping towards the exit. Red had roared her approval, and Keith could _feel_ the heat of the flames she discharged to give him an opening through the particle barrier.

Keith should have known better than to trust Red’s approval for his actions, especially when it came to inflicting violence. Most of the time, Keith based his decisions on logic and pragmatism. But when Red nudged her thoughts into his, everything then turned into _doing_ something, anything. Waiting around was never an option for Red.

“Look, we don’t know where the other Lions are. Or where the Castle is.” Lance protested, stepping forward to partially shield Hunk and Keith from view. “It flies, right? Which means movement? It’s not like we have a GPS locator on the thing!” 

“We haven’t even started asking questions and yet so eager to spill all you know from those loose lips of yours.” If it had been any other Galra commander – someone who wasn’t the Emperor of a fanatically growing Empire that’s lasted 10,000 years - they might have changed facial expressions from impassiveness to amusement. Keith had never met another ruler – apart from Allura, and she was just as terrifying with more emotions – but he was positive that Lance’s attempt to be defiant would have caused some sort of reaction.

“But I just said we can’t tell you anything.”

“Are you alright?” Hunk whispered down to Keith as Lance continued to argue with the giant Galra. 

“What’s that idiot doing?” Keith muttered back as he struggled to get to his feet without the use of his arms. Zarkon only replied to Lance in small sentences, as if speaking to an infant and Haggar said nothing at all, their yellow eyes focusing minutely between each Paladin before flicking away. Keith shivered as the druid’s eyes roamed over him. 

“Buying us some time, I think.” Hunk was tense, forehead scrunched up in either pain or fear. “Main priority is to delay until we can figure a way out or the cavalry arrives.”

Keith refrained himself from pointing out that there wouldn’t be any cavalry, no rescue heading their way. As much as Pidge and Shiro would _want_ to come after them, it would be suicidal and stupid to even attempt any rescue. It would be like gift-wrapping the Lions straight to Zarkon’s hands! Allura, more than anyone, would realize this and forbid the Black and Green Paladins from leaving the Castle.

“How are you holding up?” Keith asked instead of voicing his thoughts on a rescue attempt.

Hunk forced a grin; it looked more like a grimace to Keith. “Ask me that again when we’re not almost about to die and I don’t have a giant headache.”

“Remarkable how talkative the Blue Paladins always are.” Keith zeroed in on Zarkon, who was looking at Lance with something like a glimmer of interest. “Your predecessor was exactly same as you as well, Blue Paladin. Talking to distract the enemy long enough for your teammates to get back on their feet or get into position.”

“Predecessor?” Lance blinked. “The previous Blue Paladin?”

“No, he means the Great Tree you sprouted from.” Haggar hissed. “How many times, my lord, have I informed you that the Paladins are always the same?” 

“That would be impossible?” Hunk gulped as piercing eyes looked his way, but continued speaking. “We just started piloting the Lions a few months back and we’re not from Altea or whatever planet the Galra are from.”

Keith nearly jumped at the shrill cackles of Haggar’s laugh. He edged closer to Hunk and Lance, so all three of the Paladins were standing in front of the head of the Galra Empire, shoulders lightly touching.

He would have preferred an interrogation, a beating, or being thrown in some cell. The fact that all three of them were still standing in an audience with Voltron’s mightiest enemy in a somewhat decent conversation was rankling his nerves to an almost unbearable degree. 

“Levia would never accept any other pilot apart from her chosen, and neither would Sudou or Nemesis!” Haggar shrieked, her voice echoing in the emptiness of the throne room.

Lance’s breathing had gotten heavier and Keith could see how stiff he had gotten from terror. Hunk wasn’t much better, and frankly, neither was he. 

“We have no idea of whose names those are.” Keith finally managed to blurt out.

“Y-yup!” Lance chimed in, Keith’s confidence to speak after Haggar’s high-pitched shrieks bolstering his own confidence. “Not a clue, never heard of them. Can’t really –“ 

“Of course you haven’t heard anything.” Haggar cut in sharply. “You pathetic creatures stumbled your way into something universal and simply went along for the ride rather than learn. But I am not surprised, there’s only been a handful of reincarnations that bother with the truth.”

“Isn’t the truth usually written by the victors?” Lance’s confidence booster was still riding high, it seemed. It was admirable, in Keith’s eyes. Stupid, but admirable. “If you’re not going to tell everyone what happened for all these years, that’s your fault.”

There was a silence that grew in the throne room then, a devastatingly tense standoff between the Paladins and their captors. Haggar peered at Lance from under their hood, while Zarkon simply watched the proceedings with a bored eye. There was sweat dripping down Keith’s face, but he didn’t dare move to wipe it away from his eyes.

“My Lord.” Haggar’s teeth pulled upwards and Keith wished he would never remember what that creepy grin looked like. “May I?”

“Do as you wish.” Zarkon tilted his head in acknowledgement. “But here, if you don’t mind. Try not to break them too much.”

 “The truth sometimes hurts, Emperor Zarkon. You know this well.” 

Haggar wasted no time in calling on their magic. A vortex grew from under Haggar’s feet and spread out towards the Paladins. Lance yelped and tried to jump backwards to avoid it, nearly sending himself and Keith crashing to the ground. Purple light washed over them and Keith’s nerves shook in anticipation and dread. Whatever Haggar was eager to show them would most likely end in disaster for the Paladins. At his side, Hunk cringed and rubbed his head; Keith assumed he was feeling the same tension _he_ was.

“Do you know how long Paladins have roamed this Galaxy?” Haggar had disappeared from view; Keith looked desperately around for them. He wouldn’t put it past the witch to jump them from above or behind; it’s what _he_ would do in this sort of situation. 

As he turned his neck around to peer behind him, something snatched at his hand, and Keith jumped, only to find Lance’s fingers tightly grasping at his wrist as the Blue Paladin glanced nervously in every direction – except behind, Keith noticed. Lance would look up before checking behind his back, the idiot! A quick glance down and Keith could see Lance had also grabbed Hunk’s hand. Further inspection showed that they were holding each other’s hands tightly enough that Keith could see the indents of the fingers pressing into the skin, and he was looking down from across Lance’s shoulders. Keith resolved never to tell Lance that he felt less worried just from having someone else’s hand to hold, he would never let him live it down. 

Soon enough, the purple faded and the trio found themselves stranded in space, stars twinkling all around them. “Ancestors of the Seas, please protect us.” Hunk whimpered. 

“It’s alright, Hunk.” Keith murmured. “This is like some sort of hologram thing. We’re not actually in space. Alternate dimension, maybe. That's a thing, I think.” 

“Correct, although it seems none of you can bother answering my own question.” Haggar swam into view in front of them, eyes glowing. 

“Um, tens of thousands of years ago? Lance said hesitantly. They had asked a question? Keith must have missed hearing it.

“Hmph. One of you seems to have a thinking organism.” Keith shuddered as Haggar let their gaze linger on Hunk. He hadn't even said anything to the Druid, why were they staring? “Now, which one of you bugs can tell me how long Voltron has been around?” 

“Long enough to kick your ass.” Keith snarled, his own fingers wrapping around Lance’s hand for his own boost in confidence. 

Haggar’s face didn’t even twitch as lightning surged from their fingertips and into Keith. 

White-hot fire laced up and down his nerves; his screams lost in the blinding tsunami of pain. When at last he was able to open his eyes, someone’s arms were holding him off the floor and his face was pressed into Lance’s jacket. His breath hitched, phantom shocks tingling in his limbs. Hunk was yelling in the background.

“Hey, hey, you’re okay.” Lance’s face was ashen, Keith noticed as he slowly lifted his head up and Lance fizzled into view. “Nothing the great Keith Kogane can’t handle, right, buddy?”

Keith could already tell it would hurt to speak, his throat felt raw and scraped clean, but dammit if he was going to stay quiet because a cranky old witch wanted him to.

“H-how lo…?” Moving his lips to form words was painful; he may have accidentally bitten through the skin. 

“Only a few seconds.” Lance reassured him. “As soon as the shock hit you, I went to catch you before you could hit the ground and Hunk started yelling at Haggar. It’s actually a work of art.”

 

[This beautiful art piece is by PeppleMint](http://pepplemint.tumblr.com/post/157413743490/pictures-i-did-for-rogueofdragons)

 

“Le-t me si-sit up.” Keith was glad Lance didn’t mention how much help the Red Paladin needed in moving upright. With both of their hands still tied, it was difficult to maneuver; Lance carefully twisting his wrists as best he could for leverage in helping Keith stand up. Keith didn’t want to think of how sore and bruised Lance’s hands would be if they survived this and escaped. 

“-dare hurt him anymore!” Hunk stood fiercely in front of Lance and Keith; even with his hands still tied behind his back and Keith unable to see the Yellow Paladin’s face, he cut an imposing figure with his anger at the Druid. 

“You are no King here, Yellow Paladin.” Haggar’s yellow eyes flashed. “Do not presume to tell me what I can or cannot do, especially since this time around you are a prisoner of war.” Haggar disappeared from sight for barely a second – a tick, Keith reminded himself – before the air shimmered and they appeared right in front of Hunk, wrapping sharp nails around his neck; a threat and a warning. “I asked you a question, Levia’s vessel. What’s the answer?" 

“We don’t even know who Levia is!” Lance cried out furiously. He stepped away from Keith’s side, watching as Haggar’s eyes followed his movements and hoping that they would _let Hunk go_. “Ten thousand years! Voltron has been around ten thousand years.” 

Lance felt the coil of tension slowly uncurl itself from around his heart as Haggar stepped away from Hunk, hand elegantly falling to their side. “Someone has been doing their research. Perhaps, once I have finished with you here, I shall take you as my pet. Your brain seems fascinating.” Lance shivered as Haggar turned to look at him. 

“You won’t get the chance!” Keith hissed, somehow dragging himself closer to Lance without falling over. If it had been Lance who had been electrocuted, he doubted he would be able to even stand, let alone move, even in a shuffle. 

“Oh please.” Haggar dismissed Keith. “You can barely stand. You are useless to me, Vessel of Nemesis.” 

“My name is Keith! Keith! I am not a vessel for whatever Nemesis is; I am the Red Paladin!” Keith lunged forward, only to find himself crashing into Lance’s back. He must have moved in front to stop him. 

“Who is Nemesis? And Levia?” As much as Lance wanted to run as far away from Haggar as possible, or shoot everything he had into her yellow eyes – he hadn’t yet decided which feeling was stronger – he was curious. And sure there was a saying about how curiosity killed the cat, but it wasn’t like he, Hunk, and Keith weren’t already going to die. Both Zarkon _and_ his pet druid in the same room as the Paladins? And only Hunk and Lance with their bayards? They had jumped straight out of the frying pan and were already roasting in the fire.

“Of course you wouldn’t know.” Haggar floated upwards. “The Okumushu have always been a rather quiet legend across the Galaxy. For thousands of years, I have painstakingly erased all knowledge people had about them. Why would your precious Altean friends,” the amount of venom hissed out in the word could melt steel, “tell you anything of a dead race that should stay dead?” The stars exploded in a brilliant flare of light, changing the scenery to a world of purple; a void where nothing existed except the space around them.

“For a dead race, you sure like talking about them a lot!” The anger vibrating through Hunk’s words had Lance pause and glance at his best bro. That behavior… wasn’t normal. In all the years Lance had known Hunk, his best friend had never gotten angry so quickly. Yes, there had been moments at the Garrison when the other kids – because they were all kids barely a year ago, learning about the stars from their little desks instead of constantly soaring past them – had been so stupid and increasingly obtuse that Hunk blew up at them. 

But it had never been with this cold calculated anger, glaring daggers at Haggar with hate that Lance never knew Hunk possessed. His eyes almost seemed to glow with anger and Lance wanted to step forward, wanted to run to his best friend and make sure he was okay – of course he wasn’t _okay_ , none of them were okay in this situation – but the chill settling in Lance’s bones as he glanced worriedly at Hunk, only increased his awareness that something was _terribly wrong_. Keith’s fingers grabbing his was a welcome restraint, the Red Paladin as tense as he was. 

“Oh ho.” Haggar’s cloak danced in the wind that suddenly burst across the purple void. “Levia has decided to show herself.” 

“Who is Levia?” Lance shouted, Keith echoing his words at nearly the same time. A circle of light erupted from beneath their feet, a wall of shimmering energy growing upwards to stop at their knees. 

“I see all this time that has passed hasn’t made you any more likeable, Kin!” That wasn’t Hunk’s voice. The words had come out of Hunk, but that _wasn’t_ Hunk’s voice. 

“Hunk!” Lance shouted, struggling to move away from the light holding his feet and Keith moving his hand to grab Lance’s wrist hard enough to bruise. “Let go, Keith, I need to get to him!”

“I’m not letting you go to him alone!” Keith’s eyes were wide and staring at Hunk. “Move your feet, Lance!” 

“I _can’t!_ ” 

“I am no longer any Kin of yours.” Haggar ignored the two other Paladins and their struggles to move from their magic, their focus solely on the Yellow Paladin in front of them. “I sealed you away. Sealed you away and hoped you would rot in that prison made from the Lions.” 

“You should have known I would never stay away.” Not-Hunk laughed and Lance shivered; what sort of creature could make such a childlike laughter sound so cruel? “Alfor was a fool, but a useful one. And so invested in my revival! In my glory!” 

Haggar scoffed. “Your glory is your pride! Useless and full of empty promises. Alfor is dead and you have still not been fully released. You won’t ever be.” 

Not-Hunk laughed again as the space around them began to tremble violently. His hands raised above his head – when had Hunk managed to free his hands? - and yellow light gathered in his palms. “It’s more than enough to collect the rest of the vessels and initiate the Master of the Hellish Yard.”

Large cracks splintered across the purple sky and ground, Haggar snarled as the light binding the Paladins to one space shattered. “Hunk!” Lance shrieked, darting forward with Keith right at his heels. 

“No!” Lance heard the Druid shout amidst the manic laughter resonating from Hunk’s direction. Eerie golden light shone from Hunk’s eyes and Lance skidded to a stop right in front of his best friend, Keith by his side. 

“Come on Hunk.” Keith leaned towards him, trying to maintain his balance with everything shaking around them, his shoulders aching from being pulled behind his back for so long. “Snap out of it, man!” 

“The vessel for Nemesis.” Not-Hunk bared his teeth. “I couldn’t have asked for a better first companion to continue our quest.” 

“Hunk? What’s going on?” Lance nearly fell as the ground cracked further, sending a vigorous tremor out. 

“Hunk isn’t available right now.” Not-Hunk sang. “But he sends his regards, do not worry. The Okumushu are something he reveres after all. All the reincarnations of my vessel have, even without knowing what exactly _I_ am.”

A crackle of electricity tore through the three of them; Keith crying out as Lance was thrown away with the force of one the blasts. Hunk grabbed Keith’s arm and pulled him back from running to him. Haggar lowered their fingers, sparks still jumping from the tips, their magic enabling them to float above the earthquakes continuously pulsing. 

“Lance!” Keith shouted. “Hunk, we need to get Lance!” 

“Sudou can wait, my darling Nemesis.” Not-Hunk had eyes only for Haggar as their hands readied for another spell. “I cannot carry both of you while my former Kin hinders me.” 

“What, no! Don’t leave him behind with Haggar!” Keith twisted and turned, trying to escape from Hunk’s hold.

Lance pushed himself to his feet, already running towards his teammates as Hunk’s body glowed brightly with golden energy.

“Lance!”

Keith didn’t stop trying to slip out of Not-Hunk’s grasp and Lance didn’t stop sprinting, hoping to reach Hunk and Keith before they disappeared into the light. Already, they were starting to fade away. 

“Bye-bye, Sudou!” Hunk waved a translucent hand at Lance. “I might be back to pick you up, but don’t count on it.” 

“Lance!” “Keith, Hunk!” Lance reached the light just as it vanished, tripping over his feet as he tried to skid to a stop. The tremors increased in intensity and Haggar shrieked in rage behind him as more and more cracks started breaking apart the purple dimension. Lance rolled to the side, just barely managing to dodge a large purple shard. 

“Hunk, Keith!” How could Hunk leave him behind? They had never left each other behind before. Maybe if Lance yelled loud enough, he would find out this was nothing but a terrible nightmare? 

“Blue Paladin, I suggest you move.” Lance dived out of the way of another chunk of sky aiming for him; twisting on his shoulder to end up facing the Druid.

“Suggest all you like, la madre que te parió!” Lance spat out. “It’s your fault this happened!” 

“It was going to happen regardless.” Light blossomed from Haggar’s fingertips. “Lord Zarkon will not be pleased that this dimension has been destroyed.” Lance shrieked as white light enveloped everything around him and some wind he couldn’t see yanked him down.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Videos from the Evillious Chronicles: 
> 
> [Song I Heard Somewhere](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79HcHqRD_mY/)  
> (This is one of favorite songs because its just so fun)   
>  [Ma Survival](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHTaiKk-EnE/)  
> [Master of the Hellish Yard](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKVyKz88QKY/)  
> I am a terrible person because I procrastinate like no one ever has. I'm a master procrastinator. If anyone is waiting for the chapters and wondering why it's slow to update, ahaha, that's me. The Procrastinator.


	4. Daughter of Evil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are Discussions with a capital D, Keith sets a new record, Haggar really enjoys hearing themselves talk (they must be lonely) while Lance is the poor boy forced to listen, and familiar faces that aren't all that familiar pop up to make things even more confusing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for the wait, if you hadn't guessed yet, yes I have procrastinated enough that I'm still writing. I blame Haggar. After this doozy of a chapter, there should be one more and then that'll be a wrap. Hopefully. 
> 
> About half of this chapter was looked over by the excellent beta [Asena](http://neverdoingmuch.tumblr.com/) and the other half is my crazy editing skills. 
> 
> Once again thanks to the artists [Nie Nie](http://captainfreakishlynerdyme.tumblr.com/), [Connie](http://chim8szua.tumblr.com/), and [PeppleMint](http://pepplemint.tumblr.com/) and the Voltron Big Bang for putting this together!

“Hunk, are you crazy?” Keith hadn’t stopped yelling as he and Hunk – _not- Hunk_ he had to keep reminding himself – vanished from the purple void space room, leaving Lance alone with Haggar. With Haggar! The one being who _Shiro_ was scared of. Keith had known Shiro for most of his life; Shiro didn’t get scared of people easily. Of spiders and cockroaches yes, but never of people.

“I wonder how long it’ll take you to learn that I don’t go by Hunk, Nemesis.” The thing speaking through Hunk sighed; Keith couldn’t stand how _different_ it sounded. Different, and yet it still held the undertones that Keith had come to associate with as Hunk. 

“Well, my name isn’t Nemesis.” Keith retorted.

“Fair enough.” Not-Hunk hummed. “I would prefer if you call me Queen Rilliane, she was my favorite incarnation of vessel, you know? But I get the feeling you wouldn’t bother with the proper titles. Mistress Levia will do.” A snap of Not Hunk – Levia’s – fingers and the handcuffs that had been holding Keith’s arms together for who knows how long, sprang open. “Oh, but it does feel so lovely to be walking around!”

Keith slowly moved his hands up towards his chest, rubbing them together to get his blood circulating back in his fingers. “Great, now give me back Hunk and let’s go get Lance.”

“Give you – oh darling!” Levia giggled, not laughed, giggled, the sound of it sending goosebumps down Keith’s neck. What made it worse was seeing Hunk giggle like a child who just found their favorite toy but _knowing_ that it wasn’t him. Possession was left to ghosts, not aliens, and most definitely not Hunk.

His danger alarm was shrieking at him to get out of there; to run without looking back and get as far away from this Levia person as fast as possible. Keith wished he could press an off switch on those instincts; he wasn’t going _anywhere_ without Hunk.

“That was really funny, Neme- oh I’m sorry, what did you want to be called again?” Levia wiped a tear of laughter from Hunk’s eye.

“I just want Hunk back.” Keith opted to say. “Get out.”

“That was even funnier!” Levia leaned in close to Keith. “But let me clue you in, Future Incarnation of Nemesis. Being trapped in a hunk – pardon the accuracy – of scrap metal for tens of thousands of years gets _boring_. Until I free myself from that Lion, I have to settle on walking around with my vessel’s forms. I am not giving that up so soon. It’s been _years_ between these precious Paladins. Far too long.” Levia sniffed.

“Vessels?” Keith finally grounded out. He would love nothing more than to stab this _intruder_ wearing Hunk’s face, but that would mean stabbing Hunk. He didn’t have his bayard - hopefully no one had picked it up from the floor of the hangar – but he still had his knife hidden by a strap above his ankle, tucked inside his boot. If this Levia was anyone but Hunk, Keith would have gladly taken an eye by now and dashed away to find Lance.

He prayed that Lance was holding out on his own, even if it was against Haggar. He didn’t want to die until he got both of his teammates – his family – back with him. Which was an odd sentiment for Keith to have. All of his life he’d been training for the Space and Exploration program, to join the Garrison and eventually be deployed as a pilot; although the Government referred to it as exploration and “accidental” target practice for military opponents. He should be used to the idea of dying alone.

Maybe that was one of the reasons Keith had been expelled from the Garrison.

“What did you think the Lions were? Actual robots built to defend the galaxy?” Levia sounded amused. “Please. They were made for me. All for me because I am the rightful ruler of this universe.”

“How could you say that? Allura said you were the first Paladins!” Keith’s mind whirled, trying to come up with a plan to get himself and Hunk away from the megalomaniac wearing Hunk’s face. His brain was coming up with absolutely _nothing_.

“Oh, is that what dear Alfor ended up telling everyone? Clever.” Levia spread Hunk’s arms out, basking in the light of wherever they were.

 _Alfor?_ Keith swore he’d heard that name before.

“The Okumushu were not the first Paladins; the first paladins were the beings who’s Quintessence locked me and my siblings into the Lions and used _our_ power to _defend_ ,” here Levia giggled, arms still outstretched, “their little corners of the universe. Until I managed to sweet-talk King Alfor into bringing all the Lions together to one planet and weaken the seals holding I and my siblings away from everyone else. Such a good little vessel he was, just like this one. Always so receptive.”

“King Alfor, _Allura’s_ father?” Keith knew he had heard the name before; that hologram the Princess had always spent time with before the Castle went crazy had been her father, the past King of Altea.

“Why, yes.” Levia purred. “King Alfor’s Quintessence matched my own, and he was gunning to bring the Hellish Graveyard into the universe just as I was. But of course, opponents faced us at every turn.”

Levia dropped Hunk’s arms and began to pace back and forth, Keith moving his head to follow every movement the Okumushu made. It had barely been a full day since Keith had first learned of the Okumushu and here he was, with one of his friends – he was friends with Hunk, right? – possessed by an entity that would joyfully destroy the universe.

He couldn’t even say he was honestly surprised; space was absolutely insane.

“So what, Hunk matched your Quintessence too and so he now had to deal with you while protecting the entire universe from Zarkon?” Keith spat out. “You’re terrible! Get out of Hunk!” It didn’t matter that Keith was already injured; that his arms ached, that static still jumped between his nerves and the bruises on his chest made it difficult to breathe. All that mattered was that there was something in front of him that needed to be eradicated before it hurt anyone else. And Keith knew without being told, that this Levia – Okumushu that she may be thought of as a hero by Allura and Hunk – had hurt many, _many_ people. And would gladly continue on with the count.

Sprinting was easier with his hands no longer trapped behind his back, and Keith jumped on Hunk’s back, arms wrapped around his neck faster than the _parasite_ controlling the Yellow Paladin could dodge. Keith’s legs wrapped around Hunk’s torso, crossing at his ankles to keep him from falling, leaving his arms free to form a chokehold. His right hand grabbed his left elbow and pulled, biting into Hunk’s neck. It wasn’t enough to completely cut off air circulation, but breathing would be a challenge.

Just like Shiro had taught him, years ago.

Keith ignored how Hunk was gasping for air, focusing solely on keeping his grip. If he scared the Okumushu enough, maybe it would leave Hunk’s body; or at the very least, retreat back into dormancy. Keith could apologize to Hunk when this nightmare was done and over with.

“Let go, you little –“ Keith grunted as cuts and bruises on his back slammed into a hard surface. What had been an empty yellow tinted void when Keith and Levia wearing Hunk first arrived now sprouted buildings and paved walkways.

Levia was smashing Keith backwards into one of the buildings to loosen his grip on Hunk enough that they could throw him off. Keith had been in enough fights on Earth to know how this song and dance went. It _didn’t_ matter that he was already injured and his limbs were ready to fall off from the pain.

All that mattered was getting Hunk back. And Lance.

Levia-Hunk roared and spun violently to crash sideways into the building. “Let go of me, you stubborn flesh eating bug!” Levia shrieked hoarsely.

“Not - until I - get Hunk - back!” Keith shouted between his left elbow colliding with the wall.

This alien wanna-be overlord had no idea how stubborn Keith could be. He wouldn’t be releasing his hold even if it killed him.

 

______________________________________________________________________________

 

When Lance opened his eyes, blinking away the bright spots from his eyes, he wasn't surprised to find himself no longer in the purplish dimension Haggar had first taken them to. Well, now it was no longer the three of them, but just him alone. Lance’s breath hitched as he remembered the alien, almost malicious glow in Hunk’s eyes, and the childish cruel laugh that sounded so _wrong_ coming from his best bro’s mouth. What was just as bad was seeing Keith looking terrified as he and Hunk – Not-Hunk - left Lance behind with the very same Druid who had experimented on Shiro. Lance pushed those thoughts away; it would do him no good to be distracted because some alien hotshot had taken over his friend’s body.

As his eyes scanned this new horizon, Lance could admit to himself that he wasn't expecting the war torn shoreline that crunched beneath his feet, billows of smoke from smoldering pits listlessly drifting into the sky. It was too much to hope that Haggar’s quick teleportation spell to escape the purple dimension void would land them back in the real world, or even better, back home on Earth. Lance nearly gagged as the smell of something, something rotten and putrid hit his nostrils. 

In all the stories his abuela had told him about her childhood; about how bombs dropped near her family house more times than she could count, of how normal it was to see friends and neighbors being piled up on the street corners to be burned. Lance vividly remembered his abuela shuddering at the memories of the smell; the smell of shattered bones; of rotten meat from decaying human bodies, and organs drying outside of the corpses.

“No, no, no, no, no.” Lance chanted, hoping if he said it often enough, that he would disappear from this place, just as quickly as he arrived. He didn't want to be here. He didn't know where this was, but he wanted out.

“Not a pretty sight is it, Blue Paladin?” Haggar’s voice cackled from behind him. Lance whirled around, eyes snapping to the Druid who floated above a hole. 

“What is this?” Lance demanded, taking a step forward only to stop as his foot hit something soft.

Haggar laughed. “A dead body, of course!” They crooned. “What did you think the Okumushu left behind before they were finally sealed?” 

Lance forced himself to look down, breathing heavily through his mouth to try and resist the urge to vomit in front of an enemy. A body - he didn't recognize the species - lay mangled right where his foot rested. Its skin had been flayed open for Lance to see what remained of its shriveled and blackened organs. Bones were partially dissolved, white dust scattering the ground. Lance wasn't able to hold back a dry heave, his hands flying up to cover his mouth as his body was overtaken by spasms.

 

[Artwork by Pepplemint](http://pepplemint.tumblr.com/post/157413743490/pictures-i-did-for-rogueofdragons)

 

Haggar only laughed some more.

“Look at what destruction sits in your precious Lions. Malice is what we called it. And it came, wielded by the Okumushu wherever they stepped. Whichever world they stopped at.”

Fire rained down from the sky with a wave of Haggar’s hand. Echoes of screams shattered in the dead silence of the air and Lance shook as ghosts of alien species stood up only to fall coughing, black spores spewing from their lips. 

“Why are you showing me this?” Lance whispered, unable to look away from the carnage of the past.

“So you understand exactly what it is that you pilot.” Five bright lights whirled in the sky; shrieks of pain coming from the species on the planet as trees erupted into entangling limbs, snagging bodies from where they stood. Lance watched in morbid fascination as the bodies shriveled and blackened before being thrown away by the rampaging foliage.

“Five was all that was left of their race, five of them and sixty-five of mine when the Ark first crossed into this universe.” Haggar's voice was quiet as they watched fires twist through a windstorm to scorch and burn the bodies to ash. To his left, ice pelted ahead of the tsunami coming for the species near the ocean side.

“Blue,” Lance choked out. He would recognize that power _anywhere_. 

“Koro Alboo.” Haggar pointed at one of the light figures, the one who carried a pair of dual blades in their hands. A wave with one of the swords sent a volley of ice from the tip. “Sealed into the Blue Lion and piloted by Kayo Sudou. And all of her reincarnations.”

Lance swallowed heavily as crowds of life forms were obliterated by only five beings.

“Reincarnation?” He managed to ask weakly. His heart _hurt_ just looking at all the carnage. Even more so, because _Blue_ had this power. Had this ability to destroy lives with a flick of a hand, or a swing of a sword. He'd known – well, suspected - that the Lions had been weapons, weapons of mass destruction and Voltron even more so. But seeing it like this? Seeing an entire species fall so easily… the sheer horror of the brutality made it hard to breathe. 

“Did you really think the Lions would choose anyone? It's keyed to a specific individual’s quintessence.” The Druid watched as black spores drizzled over the ground, landing on the living and corpses alike. Lance cried out as acid spit out from where the spores landed, eating away at the flesh. “Hm. I had forgotten how effective Sorgoktuk was.” 

“What does that mean?”

“Sorgoktuk had an interesting ability to eat everything in its path. Metaphysical or physical, it was fascinating. Would have eaten itself if it hadn’t been sealed away and its power dormant. I would have liked to study its abilities.” 

“What?! How is that something you want to study?” Lance looked at the pile of smoking and shriveled bodies and trembled. Whether it was in disgust, fear or both, he couldn't tell. 

“For science, of course.” Haggar stared down at Lance. “How else could someone understand it enough for use?”

“Shocking idea, but how about you don’t?!”

 _Dios,_ he could see why Shiro would be terrified of this witch if he had to stay with them for an extended period of time. They didn't _care_ about the destruction of living beings as long as it gave them results.

 _Scientists are mostly good folk, mi hijo._ He remembered his Abuela telling him sometime before he left for the Garrison all that time ago. _Explorers and avid learners of the universe around us. But don't trust those that put science over people._

“People are just toys to those scientists.” Lance whispered, stepping back from Haggar, trying to avoid stepping in anything that lay around him. Something clicked in his mind. “You worked with the Okumushu; you were all scientists.”

Lance wished Haggar would stop smiling. “Very good, Blue Paladin. You are the quick one. The quintessence of Sudou always has been.”

Haggar looked out on the horizon and pointed. “My kin and I had tired of listening to the nonsense of the Okumushu. They wanted to destroy the entire universe to send it back to the Hellish Graveyard for their utopia.”

Magical light of various colors catapulted from all over: the water, the ground, and the sky all towards to the five glowing beings in the air. Their shrieks tore through Lance’s eardrums; anger, hatred, and betrayal bled through the memory - well he assumed it was a memory - and Lance could only hope this magic memory scene actually wouldn't make his ears bleed. 

Although considering Haggar was the one creating the memory and the few stories Shiro would grunt out about his time with them, it may have been too much too much to ask for. 

Unperturbed by the writhing forms being dragged down, Haggar continued their story. “The Kin were strong enough in magic to bind them. And bind them we did. To objects meshed into spare parts that would later become the Lions.”

“Why not just kill them?” He’d seen the destruction the Lions could do on a mere whim, and looking at the carnage that was slowly dissolving into light, those abilities came from the Okumushu.

Haggar scoffed. “While I was all for the destruction of the Lions, my sister chose to keep them around so she could watch them. Keeping them sealed allowed for use of their destructive abilities. Why kill them when we could keep them as weapons?” Almost like a fast forward button had been hit, Lance watched as whatever burning gas ball that called itself the sun of this planet rose and set impossibly fast, over and over again until it stopped directly above his head. 

However many years had passed, at least Lance knew it was midday. A useless fact to proud of, but he was slightly comforted at the same time. 

“My sister was no fool. A menace, yes. But Elagar was brilliant enough to realize that the Lions were only a temporary measure.” Where a mound of corpses had once been, five lions stood, the robotics less impressive than the Lions Lance had fallen in love with so easily. 

“So why didn't you find a way to seal them forever if you weren't going to get rid of them?” Lance’s gaze was locked on the square head painted blue.

“Because I thought my darling sister _was_ thinking of a way to seal them.” Haggar frowned. “Imagine my shock when instead she wanted to let the Okumushu loose from their prisons and let them destroy the universe. She was tired of watching the Lions and with Levia fully channeling herself through her new love, Alfor; well it didn’t take much convincing for her to throw away 36,000 years of duty.”

“Levia?” 

“The Okumushu sealed in the Yellow Lion.” A crowd stood around the Lions, beings of all shapes and sizes shouting something Lance couldn't hear. “The Queen of the Okumushu as she likes to refer to herself. Probably because Princess Rilliane of Lucernia was the poor vessel chosen to pilot the Yellow Lion. I believe she was 14 when she was matched with Levia’s quintessence and weak enough to succumb to her within a week. Anyone who has possessed the quintessence of Rilliane usually ends up bowing to Levia.” Lance watched with Haggar standing nearby as one by one, people went up to touch a Lion, hoping to be granted the honor of being chosen as the first Paladin.  

 _This is a memory._ Lance reminded himself; trying to ignore how _vivid_ everything around him was. _This happened thousands of years ago_. It was difficult not to get sucked into energy of the crowd, even as far back as Haggar and Lance were and Lance did have to commend Haggar for their skills for how real everything was in here. Wherever here was.

Lance hesitated before asking anything else. He knew he was a motor mouth and would gladly talk to anyone, enemy or not; but this was with someone who had experimented on people for fun, someone who followed a mad emperor hell bent on universal domination. Someone who had been alive for more than 36,000 years and was directly responsible for the creation of the Lions. Someone who had dragged him into this dimension and was probably the only being who could take him – and his team – _out_.

There were only a handful of people – beings - who were ever truly and completely evil. And while Lance didn’t like Haggar or Zarkon or any of the Galra commanding officers that gunned after them; shooting them in the face before understanding motivations wouldn’t solve any problems. If the Galra were anything like his own species, Lance knew the death of the empire’s commanders would do nothing but paint a bigger target on the backs of the Paladins. It happened frequently in human history after all.

Of course, blasting a hole in Zarkon’s forehead was only possible if Lance managed to live through this situation. Which… seemed slightly more likely than ten minutes ago. Sure, he had been separated from his teammates, and Hunk was possessed by an ancient being of destructive mania, but Lance had been standing with Haggar for a good while and they hadn’t made any movements that suggested they were planning on dragging him to their evil lair by his ear. Not yet at any rate.

Hopefully not ever.

“I know I’m probably asking a lot more questions than I should, considering my team is trying to de-establish your empire and what not,” Lance cringed as his mouth babbled more than what he had wanted it to. like always. “But seeing as how we haven’t moved from this spot and you haven’t blasted me into a million pieces yet, can I ask –“

“You’re already asking, are you not?” Haggar interrupted. “Don’t take my inaction against you as tolerance, Paladin. From the start you and your friends have been in dimensions of my creation. The only reason I _haven’t_ blasted you in a million pieces, as you say, is because I want you to understand.”

Lance gulped, wishing for his armor just to feel a tad safer. His jacket – now full of holes and tears from the Galra; he would need to find some way to fix it, if he returned to the Castle – was inadequate protection against a druid who had lived so long and could transport people through dimension hopping, shoot lightening, and play memories of old without breaking a sweat. Although, if he was going to be honest, the Paladin armor probably wouldn’t be enough to save him should the Druid decide to tear out his heart. Morbid thoughts, Lance. Stop that.

“Ah, understand that the Lions are weapons of mass destruction?” He hoped that was the answer they were looking for. “I already kind of figured; I mean, there were a lot of craters whenever we left an area.” 

A distant cheer could be heard and Lance focused on the crowd of vastly different species gathered together. The Blue Lion was glowing, bright azure lights flashing from her eyes and the great mechanical figure pressed back on her haunches to stand tall – the way Lance had seen his own Blue do so many times before.

Something in his chest hurt that he had been away from _his_ Blue for so long. Which was ridiculous since it had only been a few months – hopefully – since Blue had taken Lance and the rest to the Castle of Lions. 

He watched as a being with long pink hair pushed back with a golden clip patted the Lion’s paw; her red colored robes decorated with green ribbons that sparkled in the light. Even without looking, he knew the fabric was soft and well made – it was a favorite and worn as often as possible because of how it looked and sparkled in the light, always catching the attention of the beings around them. Lance had no idea who this being was… and yet he did. Knew that they carried a pair of scissors wherever they went and had an extra spool of thread with a needle in their boot.

“Kayo Sudou.” Haggar sounded almost smug. “A tailor from Enbizaka who spent her free time flying the newly made Blue Lion at her government’s request. She was one of the first to realize what you did.”

“That the Lions are weapons?” Lance asked slowly. “How… I know them?” Magic or no, this was too weird.

“Yes and yes. She is you.” Haggar waved a hand and the scene altered; five color matched Paladins stood with their Lions in front of even larger crowd; banners and signs erect in the air as a speaker yelled into a cone. “Quintessence is based on an individual. No two are alike… when they are still alive. But it does die and get reborn. The Okumushu were sealed into the Lions that then needed to be layered over by another, _living_ ’ _s_ Quintessence. Thus, the Paladins.”

“Did you even tell these people that?” Lance demanded. Even with the scant information he had been piecing together from the Castle of Lions audio files, he never thought that the Lions hadn’t been created for some protection detail, even if it had been only military purposes. But the Paladins themselves? Binding someone to the Lions as a way to lock away sentient beings for literally all of eternity? 

“Of course not. Officials were so much more inclined to offer services if it meant a citizen of their own planet could be granted access to a superior mechanical force. Protecting the chosen sectors was simply the reason everyone chose to believe to rationalize having a weapon of this magnitude.” 

That was wrong. That was so very wrong that these people were just completely unaware of what they had sold their very _souls_ to. Lance felt queasy. Five people for five Lions. 

Lance recognized Kayo, wearing a blue robe this time, still with the same colored ribbons and hair ornament. Next to her stood whom Lance assumed the Green Paladin was based on her deep green dress, a wine glass in her hand. She was the only one of the Paladins who was laughing during the speech. 

If Haggar was to be believed, these were his teammates. His _friends_. They were always meant to find the Lions because if everyone’s Quintessence was different… no one else could have piloted the Lions.

“Baroness Conchita.” Haggar pointed to the female in the green dress. “Queen Rilliane. Judge Gallerian. Nemesis Sudou.” Yellow, Black, and Red based on the primary colors of their clothes.

Well, at least now he had the names. Hopefully he would remember them. Someone needed to. Princess Rilliane was tiny; a crown of brightly colored jewels adorned her hair and gown and she wore a tight smile on her face.

 _“I believe she was 14 when she was matched with Levia’s Quintessence and weak enough to succumb to her within a week”_ Haggar had told him that barely a few minutes ago. It was sad to think that this small girl – ruler of a country she may be – was expected to hold back a would-be conqueror with enough magic power to destroy entire landscapes. 

“Were the Blue and Red paladins related?” He thought the names had sounded similar coming from Haggar’s mouth, but maybe he had been mistaken?

Haggar’s lips twitched; in a way Lance was starting to recognize as a sort of shrug from the Druid. “I did not care enough to follow their personal histories.” A hand grabbed Lance’s shoulder and he winced; both in fear of whatever the Druid was planning and for a bruise they dug into with their claws for nails. “Now come. You have your information and despite what Emperor Zarkon wants, it’s time for Levia to be silenced for good. Troublesome pest.”

Warping to a different dimension – at least Lance thought it was a different dimension they were heading to – wasn’t too different compared to leaving a relatively peaceful scene than in the middle of dimensional avalanche. That didn’t mean he didn’t panic as the beach they were on dissolved into nothing and a bright light blinded him once more.

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

 

It wasn’t often Hunk regretted his decision making skills. Okay, he regretted eating some things that were clearly alien and not meant for his digestive system. And definitely that fight with his cousin about the validity of Hogwarts back on Earth. And quite possibly putting off those repairs in the Castle because he wasn’t positive he would get a chance to go back there and actually get to those repairs.

But listening to a sweet sounding voice that promised things in his head was growing to be one of his _worst_ decisions of all time.

Granted, it was his head and his head was pretty stable in all the years he had known it. Which was his entire life and holy cow he was getting _antsy_ being trapped here in his own mind in a distant awareness state where he couldn’t control his own body. But that voice which started nearly immediately after hearing about the Okumushu for the first time – a whole, wow, couple of hours ago? – sung praises and adorations for the Okumushu; labeling them as heroes of the Golden Ages, as brilliant Paladins who gallantly rode the Lions to protect the entire Universe. And none were as gallant as the Yellow Lion, who shone brighter than all the others with pride.

Lies. All lies, which Hunk saw now as he shouted at the voice, Mistress Levia – she had commanded Keith to call her by – to leave him alone and to stop hurting his brother. Keith, who was getting hurt because of _him._ Because Hunk had decided to listen to a strange, mystical voice in his head that claimed the Okumushu were Gods and beings sent to _save_ the universe.

What a heap of rotten eggs. Hunk couldn’t believe that he let himself fall into the illusion of grandeur so easily. That he couldn’t even tell when something was off by reading a mythos and projecting this long-forgotten race into the story of a hanging man near a well.

Hunk wanted to go home. It had taken some time, but he considered the Castle of Lions as home. He missed Earth, yeah, but the engineering from the Alteans was _out of this world_ , no pun intended. He wanted to see his new space family of weirdos and misfits. They were all rather weird and Hunk loved them. And he wanted to see them, wanted to get out of this predicament and hug the lot of them until they all cried. Even Shiro. Shiro would definitely cry, Hunk knew it just as he knew his mother’s pot roast was the best in the entire world. Possibly universe.

“Keith, just let go!” Hunk cried desperately, feeling his own body smash Keith into the brick wall over and over. It wasn’t like Keith could hear him; not with Levia in charge of all the little nerves that made Hunk. There was nothing for Hunk to fight against, no movement he could make against Levia. A loud crash caused Hunk to cry in alarm as the wall Keith was repeatedly hitting caved in, bricks tumbling to the ground.

And still Keith didn’t let go, his arms and legs locked tight around Hunk-Levia. 

“Come on, come on, there’s got to be something I can do.” Hunk muttered to himself. Keith might be able to hold on indefinitely because stubbornness was his first, middle, and last name, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t avoid getting knocked unconscious. Brain injuries, internal injuries, or contusions on the brain were really, really bad; he couldn’t remember the exact reasoning why, but Hunk knew that much.

Even when trapped in his own head, Hunk was rambling – he never used to be this bad. It must have been Lance’s influence from those months spent together in the dorms of the Garrison. Those were simpler times. Less stressful for his nerves. 

“You don’t need to be that stressed, really. Living under Levia isn’t _all_ that bad.” Hunk flailed as something bright yellow flounced up to him; completely ignoring the Levia-possessed part of him as it continued to try and dislodge Keith from his back.

“Woah, woah, woah, wait.” He wasn’t in a some sort of mindscape, he was still seeing everything with his eyes; just now there was a yellow colored girl humanoid shaped alien with an even bright golden dress filled with ribbons and ruffles. “Are you talking to _me_?”

“Of course I am, silly. Who else would I be talking to?” They laughed, skipping in circles around Hunk. 

“Um… those two? You know, the people in the real world? Or real dimension. Are we even physically here or are our bodies still in Zarkon’s throne room? Would you even know? I think I may be slightly stressed.” He needed something crunchy. Something very crunchy.

The being tilted their head to the side in amusement. “You are a weird one.” They said. “How could I talk to them when I’m bonded to you?”

“Bonded… to me?” He’d been so anxious, that he hadn’t even noticed the warmth of feelings that emitted from the being. Hunk felt safe, talking to them. Safe and warm and fierce, nothing should be able to stand in his way. It felt similar to the times he would bond with… “You’re Yellow!”

Yellow beamed, there was no other word to describe the expression on their face. “Yes! It’s lovely to finally be able to talk to you. I’ve always wanted to speak to one of my descendents.”

“Well, I mean it’s great to finally speak to you too, but uh… now probably isn’t the best time? Keith is getting hurt out there!” Hunk felt himself tumble over, flipping to pin Keith down behind his back, squashed between the ground and Hunk’s larger body.

It was a bizarre feeling; he could feel himself performing the motions and yet there was some sort of disconnect. Weird. 

“I need to stop Levia, I can't let Keith get hurt anymore than he already is.” There had to be a way to push Levia down or pause her long enough for Keith to run away.

Yellow looked sad. “There’s nothing you can do. Levia has always been more intertwined with me than any other Paladin with the Okumushu that were sealed. I’ve only ever been able to watch like this since the Lions were first created and I was chosen to be the Paladin of the Yellow Lion.” 

“There has to be something; we just haven’t thought of it yet.” Hunk paused as he contemplated what Yellow had told him. “Wait, you were a Paladin? But I thought you were the Yellow Lion? The magic formula that makes it move since the engineering on the Lions is unparalleled.”  

“The first Paladins are the Lions.” Yellow shrugged. “Or more accurately, the Paladin’s quintessence are the magic of the Lions and the Paladins just drive the machinery.”

Hunk digested this information, compartmentalizing like he did all data that was presented to him so he could make sense of it. “So, what was your name?” He asked softly. What else could he do apart from ask questions and watch from the sidelines as Keith turned into a bruised paste at Hunk’s hands?

“Rilliane.” Yellow said after a long pause. “My name was Rilliane Lucifen d’Autriche of the planet Lucernia. If you ever go to that quadrant, you’ll know me as the Daughter of Evil. A cute nickname, yes? Most definitely well-deserved.”

Hunk winced as his elbow managed to hit backwards into Keith’s sternum, wanting to rub his neck as it got harder and harder for his body to gather the needed oxygen with Keith slowly tightening his grip on Hunk’s throat.

He couldn't stop thinking about how weird this was. If Hunk rolled his eyes as far down as they would go, he could see the tip of Keith's elbow wrapped around under his chin. He could feel the pressure of the weight and knew without a doubt it was there, but he couldn't really _feel_ Keith's arm. Levia was shrieking in some unknown language, one of those dialects the unexplained translation magic couldn't pick up as nothing she did seemed to get Keith to let go. 

“I know I should be asking why you were called the daughter of evil, but is this how it is all the time when what’s-her-name is in charge? Cause if it is, I really need her to leave.”

Rilliane smiled. “I don't remember. When most of your mind is used to power a giant Lion, it's rather easy to tune her out. She did get louder once the Lions started combining. Voltron weakened the seals holding them all back.”

“Them?” _All_ of Okumushu were as terrible as Levia?

“Don't know any of their names.” Rilliane shrugged, a smile still stretching across her face. “But all of us paladins were chosen to be the literal prison guards of the Okumushu for all of time. I would have just killed them.”

“Is what they did that bad that they should have been executed?” Hunk wanted to protest at the prospect of killing someone even if they _were_ criminals, but he couldn’t. Death wasn’t _always_ the answer, but when fighting a war, it’s not like there’s much of a choice. It’s terrible, but practical thinking and Hunk hated that he knew had to put himself in this mindset.

If he didn’t, then he and the others would probably die.

“Sure. They only caused the deaths of millions around the universe, let loose a plague that wiped out even more.” Rilliane didn’t even sound offended at the question, just stated everything matter-of-factly with that same smile still on her face. “And when Levia took over my body, she managed to decimate the population of the planet because the people weren’t paying enough taxes, burn the entire nearby woodland region because my ex-fiancé was seen with another female, and send my planet into a revolutionary civil war. Normal things.” Rilliane paused, running a hand through her hair.. “I don’t think I lived much longer after that. And then I woke up looking through the Lion’s eyes.”  

“Aw, man. That is terrible.” The Okumushu really were bad news; it made Hunk wonder how they managed to be worshiped by Alteans. Or at least just Allura and Coran, which so happened to be the only two Alteans, he knew. “Is there anyway to make her leave so I can get my body back?”

Rilliane shifted. “Other paladins figured out that if you have a stronger will you should be able to push her back. That _was_ the purpose of having the individual quintessence to use as a seal. Rather silly that my quintessence was a match considering how weak I was against Levia. And then I didn't care any longer to resist against her.” 

“Why didn't you care? You had a duty, didn't you?” A stronger will. Looking at Levia still using his body to hurt Keith, Hunk didn't have any doubts that he could push Levia back.

No one used Hunk to hurt the people he cared about.

“My twin brother died because I wasn't strong enough to hold Levia for two weeks. What did I care for duty after that?”

“Your brother _died_?” Hunk’s anger was quiet. He could smile through someone insulting him or questioning his intelligence for a long period of time. It was different when his friends or family were hurting. The Garrison had records for all the times Hunk jumped to Lance’s defense with the other students.

Yellow - Rilliane - was family. Hunk had been piloting her for months; had merged with her and shared information he had only ever told his moms.

She was hurting from an old wound and like hell Hunk was going to let it slide without a fight.

Furious, Hunk focused all of his anger to Levia: the frustration of watching Keith get hurt at his hands, of having left Lance behind, of the knowledge that she had done terrible things because she _wanted_ to and enjoyed the suffering in her wake. Of how Levia had been hurting Yellow for tens of thousands of years and no one had done anything about it. 

He was pleased when his body stopped moving and Levia let loose a howl. Awareness trickled into his nerves; his limbs that had felt numb before, flared with aches and pains that were normal. 

“You won't stay in control for long.” Rilliane said softly. “Levia will just try again once she's recharged enough energy to bypass the seals.”

“Well, fuck Levia!” Hunk growled. “She manipulated me, _used_ you, and needs to be stopped!”

Rilliane blinked. Through their bond - or maybe it was their shared quintessence, Hunk felt confusion and a distant, almost tentative, flicker of hope. She wanted to be free, Hunk knew it. Wanted to escape from under the malicious thumb that was Levia the Okumushu.

“Do you remember when I was showing you pictures of my siblings and moms?” Hunk asked Rilliane as she started to fade around the edges. “That's _ohana_ , family. You’re family, Yellow. We're not as close as Red is to Keith, or Blue is with Lance, but you're still _my_ lion. And Levia has been hurting you for far too long. Hurting too many people for far too long.” 

“ _Ohana?”_ Rilliane said softly. “I remember a movie you were talking about with the Blue Paladin.” 

“Yeah, the greatest movie of all time.” Hunk grinned. “I'm getting her out of you, Yellow. Or Rilliane, whichever you want to be called. You'll be free.” She was almost completely transparent at this point.

“Hunk!” She shouted before she vanished from his sight. “Kill her for me! Me, Princess Rilliane  Lucifen d’Autriche of the planet Lucernia! I don't care if that destroys me as well, but I want her gone! For my brother!” Rilliane disappeared from Hunk’s sight, the last expression he saw was full of determination.

Hunk groaned as he blinked his eyes open and found himself laying on his back on the ground. His back was aching, but he wasn't going to complain, especially since _he could feel again._ Levia was no longer controlling him.

“Hmph. Not many people could successfully throw Levia out once she's taken over.” That was not Keith’s voice.

Hunk scrambled to his feet. Haggar stood as motionless as ever, yellow eyes staring impassively at Hunk.

“Hunk!” A bony chest barreled into his, familiar arms wrapped around for a hug. “Oh man, am I glad to see you. And Keith, but he's hiding over yonder and won't join in the group hug.” 

“I'm not hiding!” Keith wasn't _that_ far away. From the sound of his voice, he was probably only a few meters away, but not close enough. 

“Dudes!” Hunk looked up from his hug with Lance to see Keith nervously skirting around, throwing wary glares at Haggar while looking over the other two paladins. Speaking of which…

“Are you okay?” He whispered in Lance’s ear, mindful of the Druid standing only a little ways off. “Did they… I'm sorry I left you, but did they hurt you?”

Lance shook his head. “Just showed me a bit of a bloody past.” He reassured Hunk. “Haggar’s actually impressed with you; Levia is apparently a huge nasty. Keith’s okay too,” He said before Hunk could ask. “His skin’s tougher than it looks. I think he's just nervous because he flipped you over his head when you stopped moving to scream blood murder.”

“What, no! I should be apologizing! I feel terrible. Keith, man, I'm sorry.” Even if Keith didn't get any lasting damage, knowing that it had been Hunk to hurt him in the first place was devastating. He wasn't supposed to be harming his own teammates, whether possessed or not. 

“You… aren't mad at me for choking you?” Keith inched forward. “Or for throwing you?”

“Dude, you probably saved my life.” Hunk beckoned for Keith to come closer and pulled him when his arm was close enough. He rested his head against Keith's and inhaled, doing the same with Lance a few seconds later. He hadn't done this in a long while, not since he left for the Garrison from home and greeted his cousin that morning, but it felt right to do it at this time. Even if Lance and Keith didn't know what _honi_ was.

“Not that your reunion isn't sickening, but I came here for a purpose.” Haggar walked until they were less than a meter away from the pile of paladins.

“Haggar wants to destroy Levia.” Lance murmured. “Apparently the ultimate goal for the Okumushu was to send the universe to the Hellish Graveyard, which I'm assuming just means dust.” 

“She's still there?!” Keith pursed his lips together.

“Yeah,” Hunk nodded. “Quieter though, I think being forced back to the Lion sapped some strength.” 

“You know, somehow getting rid of Levia might kill Yellow.” Lance looked away, unable to look at Hunk in the eyes. If it were Blue on the line, Hunk knew Lance would object, no matter the consequences. His attachment to Blue was intense; the prospective destruction of the universe wasn't enough to sacrifice that bond.

“I know,” Hunk attempted a smile. 

“And you're _okay_ with that?” Keith pulled away from Hunk. 

“No,” Hunk shook his head, “but I spoke with Rilliane while Levia was me. She wants Levia gone.” 

“Rilliane?” 

“Yellow. That’s her name.” Hunk took a deep breath and turned to face Haggar. The druid had – for some unknown reason – waited patiently as the paladins conversed with one another. “We both want Levia gone.” He informed the druid. “You know about the seals; you can take her out of Rilliane.”

“I can.” Haggar gave a tiny nod. “But only if the Black Lion is returned to Emperor Zarkon.”

“ _What?_ ” Lance spat out. “Wasn't our whole field trip to the past to prove how terrible the Lions are? Massive weapons wiping out civilizations? And now you want to give one of them _back_ to the lunatic trying to subjugate the universe?”

“Do not speak ill of the Emperor,” Haggar’s voice chilled. “He may fixate on the Black Lion more than is wise, but at least he understands the need to get rid of the troublesome danger.” Hunk refused to fidget as Haggar glared at him. 

“Fine.” Hunk said quickly. “Once Levia is gone, we’ll talk to Shiro.” His eye twitched. Lance gave a small nod, jabbing at Keith. 

“You agree quickly to my terms, Paladin.”

“I want this Okumushu gone as much as you do.” Hunk gave a tense shrug. “Right now, they’re a bigger threat than Zarkon.” 

“Haggar still hasn't said _how_ they’re going do this operation.” Keith jutted in as he glared at Haggar. “Is it going to be from a fuckton of electricity? Amputation of more limbs? General experimentation and throwing Hunk into the gladiator pits?”

“The seals on the Lions are weak enough that I will be able to simply pull her out. Then you can attack her. It may even prove to be successful." 

“That's pretty nice of you,” Lance rested a hand on Keith's shoulder, most likely to hold him back from jumping the Druid. “Before you wanted to study the power the Lions got when the Okumushu were sealed. Like that one, Sork - Soru,”

“Sorgoktuk.”

“Yes that,” Lance nodded, “So, why agree to destroy the Lions?”

“Because I have watched the Lions for over tens of thousands of years. There's nothing left for me to observe.” Haggar said bluntly. “And destroying one isn’t destroying all of them.”

“Okay.” Hunk said. “Let's do this.”

“A yellow paladin who sees sense. Who would have guessed.”

“Wait!” Lance held out his arms. “Are we doing this here? We're not going back to the real world? Universe?”

“Here is the best place. It's only your minds that have been brought to these dimensions, which will make it easier for me to pull Levia out of the yellow paladin. Your bodies are still on Lord Zarkon’s floor.” Haggar stood in front of Hunk, palms facing him and fingers spread open.

“I'm assume on our knees is the where we're supposed to be.” Keith hissed sourly. It didn't take a genius to see how uncomfortable Keith was. Hunk could tell Keith wanted Levia gone as much as Hunk, but having Haggar be the only person who could extract her from Hunk was less than ideal.

“Precisely.” Haggar raised an arm, purple electricity sparking off of their fingers. Hunk gulped as their hand touched his forehead and Haggar started to sing.

It wasn't a particularly well-sung song, Haggar rasping most of the lyrics and humming in various interludes. From deep inside his own head, a familiar - though he had only heard it for the first time today - voice hummed along with Haggar, the melody laced with grim determination.

 _Rilliane_.

 _Hunk._ He could feel Rilliane smile at him with her thoughts. _I'm sorry, this might hurt._

Hunk screamed as the electricity from Haggar’s fingers pushed into his head, searching for Levia. Rilliane guided the tendrils through Hunk, through the bond that connected the Lion to its pilot, to its quintessence, and even farther down.

He couldn't do this, he couldn't. All he could do was scream through the pain and try not to pass out.

 _Come on!_ He cried out in his mind. _You wanted to be free, well here's your chance_!

High-pitched laughter erupted all around Hunk. _Do you take me as a fool, Paladin of Mine? I will go out on my own terms, not by a Kin dragging me out_. Levia was hiding deep down, at the very bottom of the yellow lion’s core to avoid Haggar's magic seeking her out. Hunk could feel her trying to burrow down even more, pushing against the ends of the seal in the lion to duck around the tendrils of magic.

It hurt. Why hadn't Haggar grabbed Levia yet?

“Oi, dragon breath! I'll bloody murder you if you don't get up and moving!”

A red haze appeared by Hunk’s right arm, condensing to form a being with green fur and rounded ears. It was shorter than Hunk by at least six inches and held pistol-shaped weapons in its claws.

“Nemesis, can you not?” Pink hair waved by his right knee as someone else crouched on the ground; Hunk could see blue fabric pooling by his feet. “Rilliane and her passenger have always been more… sensitive to how things are said. Like, Oi, Levia! What kind of Okumushu hides like a coward? At least mine faces her problems! And then cries, but whatever.” 

From deep in the bond Hunk shared with Rilliane, Levia roared at the second stranger’s shout.

"It's nice to see that calling her a coward still pisses her off like a teapot." 

“Who are you?” Hunk whispered. There was a filter over his eyes; Haggar was right in front of him, but he could barely make them out. He couldn't even see where Keith and Lance were, but he knew they were close by. By contrast, the two people on his right side, by his shoulder and by his leg, were crystal clear.

“How did you…?”

Pink hair laughed. “Blue and Red, you adorable chunk of a hunk! Lance taught me that, said that's your ultimate nickname.”

“I don't like that name,” Red grumbled, “call me Nemesis or I'll shoot you.”

“Don't mind, Nemesis. She's always this prickly.” Blue mock whispered. “Yellow asked us to keep you company during this procedure while she chased after Levia. Of course, my Lance wouldn't want you to be alone either. So here we are!”

Hunk blinked. He must be hallucinating from the pain of electricity tearing through his head.

“Of course, once Yellow gave us permission to yell at Levia, I was all down for it.” Blue continued. “Perra knows I hated her from the start. Couldn’t do anything about it except complain to poor Rilliane who had to _deal_ with that loser.”

Nemesis – wasn’t that what Levia had been calling Keith? – rolled her eyes. “Do you ever stop talking, Kayo? Ever? I will garrote your head from your shoulders, don’t think I won’t just because I’ve known you forever.”

“You’ve said that one before, chica. I’ve _been_ garroted too. It’s more fun when you realize you die only to be an amazing giant mechanical cat. Besides, aren’t we supposed to be threatening Levia, not each other?”

“I still don’t understand,” Hunk winced as a wave of pain throbbed through him. “How exactly are you here?” Levia was shrieking now; he could see her in the corner of his eyes with jagged wings sprouting from her back, evading the tendrils Haggar and Rilliane directed through song.

“Magic, silly.” Blue touched Hunk’s leg, right above his ankle; she still hadn’t moved from her crouch. “If a piece of Altean technology could link the paladins’ minds, is it really that strange that your minds are linked together through the Lions?”

“Fly straight into a black hole!” Nemesis yelled at Levia. The Okumushu’s limbs had grown longer, claws forming from her fingertips. A single swipe sent boulders through the air towards the foreign magic.

“Hmph. Now she’s just playing.” Nemesis scowled. “Could totally save everyone time and just fly out but no. She has to make a show out of it.”

“Can you blame her? She gets to be a dragon. I want to be a dragon. Nemesis, change me into a dragon.”

“No.” Hunk watched with Nemesis by his shoulder as Levia danced in the air, finally letting herself be caught by Haggar’s magic. Hunk sighed as the pain retreated, the aches ebbing away as Levia was dragged out of his mind.

“Well, that looks like our cue to leave.” Blue sighed. “Keep your eyes open, chunk of a Hunk. When you wake up properly, things might be drastically different.” Blue finally stood up, her full height towering over Hunk. “Tell Lance, Koro Alboo is ready to go,” Blue paused, “on second thought. I’ll tell him myself. Maybe he can teach me more words in those Earth languages.”

Nemesis snorted. “If y’all had just taken care of your Okumushus when we were first stuck with them, there wouldn’t be any of this drama.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Ms. Let-Me-Shoot-Kaari-In-The-Face-Until-They’re-Barely-Breathing and keep them in that state for tens of thousands of years.”

Nemesis shrugged. “It worked, didn’t it? Kaari was immobile and I got to use their power without the smartass commentary.” The two Lions started fading away, and that screen in front of Hunk’s eyes was dissolving. The ground was the first thing he saw in focus.

“You, Hunk,” Nemesis stared at Hunk, “tell my paladin to stop being dramatically stupid. If he’s going to charge anywhere, tell him he needs to win.”

“I… will?” Hunk still wasn’t sure if that past few minutes hadn’t been anything but a dream.

 _It was real_. Rilliane sounded hoarse. That wasn’t surprising, considering she had been singing while chasing around a dragon Levia. _She’s gone._

_Are you alright?_

_I’m fine. Tired. It’s so quiet._ Hunk felt a ripple of something brush against his chest. If he closed his eyes, he could almost see Rilliane wrapping her arms around him.

_You aren't going to die now that she's gone?_

Rilliane snorted.  _Of course not. The seal merged my quintessence to hers, sure. But's it's my quintessence in the Lion, and it's not going anywhere. We just won't be able to use any special abilities apart from the fact I'm a giant mechanical lion._

 _Good._ Hunk sniffed.  _I'm glad. I just started chatting with you, I don't want you to go._

 _I'm not going anywhere. Not anymore._ Words wouldn't convey how happy Hunk was hear that. Maybe he had been too quick to peg Lance as the only Paladin who would resist their Lion, their partner, disappearing from their lives.  _Thank you. For helping._ Hunk felt squeeze 

 _Hey, that’s what I do. Hunk the Helper!_ The last of the screen fell away and Hunk was jolted into awareness. He blinked, eyes adjusting to the sudden clarity of the dimension he was still trapped in.

There was a full-fledged dragon soaring towards Haggar. The Druid had stepped away from Hunk, no longer directly in front of him to channel her magic directly into Hunk to grab Levia. Haggar still sang, a guttural snarling of a melody that pulled Levia farther away from the Paladins and closer to them.

“Kin! Don’t complain too much when I take control of your body!” Levia shrieked, flapping her wings against the entwining tendrils.

“If you paladins want to shoot at her sometime this tock,” Haggar snarled, breaking their song, “I wouldn’t mid the assistance!”

Levia laughed. “Can’t you tell? These paladins would rather see you burn than me. Why would you expect any –“

Two shots echoed throughout the area, drowning out every other sound.

From his spot by Hunk’s right knee, Lance lowered his bayard. “Target eliminated.” He said stiffly. He reached over and picked up Hunk’s belt, which had fallen to the ground when the yellow paladin frantically pulled it out to grab his own bayard. 

In front of the paladins, Haggar fell over, chest smoking from the pinprick hole in her chest. Levia was a husk on the ground, half of her body disintegrated from a direct hit by a cannon.

“That was for Rilliane.” Hunk muttered, lowering his hands that held his transformed bayard and trying not to collapse. Keith was beside him, reaching out for both Lance and Hunk, pulling them away from the smoking bodies.

Lance wordlessly handed Hunk his belt, and let Keith wrap his hand around Lance’s wrist.

They should have expected the explosion that erupted from the bodies on the ground before their entire world went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Videos from the Evillious Chronicles (so many) 
> 
> [And Then the Girl Went Mad](https://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3_Gfx3SG_8/)  
> [The Last Revolver](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUR3GMmvLvM/)  
> [The Muzzle of Nemesis](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq-HK4tkfcY/)  
> [Twilight Prank](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fhlgmKJ3pc/)  
> [Daughter of Evil](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5jmoqYup44/)  
> [Servant of Evil](https://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnO96AyugVs/)  
> [Regret Message](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4shMkF0ymk/)  
> [Kept Waiting for a Response](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9WpFNUFklI/)  
> [The Tailor Shop on Enbizaka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr8aPrHizLo/)  
> [Barisol's Child Is An Only Child](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdK4FhbpqFc)  
> [Clockworker's Lullaby](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE9kN3XgVnQ/)  
> [The Whereabouts of the Miracle Catastrophe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpFK8ePD2Sw/)  
>  
> 
> Characters from the Evillious Chronicles: 
> 
>  
> 
> [Nemesis Sudou](http://theevilliouschronicles.wikia.com/wiki/Nemesis_Sudou/)  
> [Rilliane Lucifen d’Autriche (Princess Rilliane)](http://theevilliouschronicles.wikia.com/wiki/Riliane_Lucifen_d%27Autriche/)  
> [Kayo Sudou](http://theevilliouschronicles.wikia.com/wiki/Kayo_Sudou/)  
> [Levia](http://theevilliouschronicles.wikia.com/wiki/Levia/)  
> Fun Facts about the Characters:  
> Nemesis is an assassin, hence why she is perfect paired with Keith because shooting/stabbing people is their favorite hobby.  
> Kayo Sudou aka Blue, was a tailor. If you think I paired her with Lance purely because of "You know why they call me the tailor? It's because I thread the needle," then you would be absolutely correct.  
> Rilliane really loves the desserts her brother would make for her. Like so much. Especially brioche.


	5. The Princess Who Brought Sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coran is an angry uncle ready to murder for his precious human children, Pidge gets the important job of climbing through tiny spaces, Shiro fails at being a reliable get-away driver, and Allura is trying to do her job as a commander. The other three of Team Voltron just jump from one fire to the next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it folks! The End of the madness and confusion! Even though I didn't send this chapter to my beta [Asena](http://neverdoingmuch.tumblr.com/) or the fabulous artists in the past chapters [Nie Nie](http://captainfreakishlynerdyme.tumblr.com/), [Connie](http://chim8szua.tumblr.com/), and [PeppleMint](http://pepplemint.tumblr.com/) because I was so late in writing it up and I didn't want to bother them, but I still want to thank them for the support they've given me for this story.

The Galra Imperial Command Ship was in chaos.

One couldn’t tell from the outside, circling in a pod that had been reformatted for invisibility, but for the Green Paladin who crouched hidden deep in the ventilation system of the ship, it was all too apparent.

“They’re all running around like chickens without their heads!” Pidge cackled to Shiro in the comms. The Black Paladin was outside, nervously cruising around in the pod. The chance of success for this mission to bring back his boys was low, low enough that he was in a near state of panic; he had been since the Galra succeeded in catching three of the lions. Pidge had been the one to convince the rest of Team Voltron to chase after the ship that trapped Hunk, Keith and Lance, regardless of their fighting capabilities.

“ _ If we just let them get away, there’s no way we’ll be able to find them again _ !” She had argued to Allura. “ _ At least us following them means we’ll know where to find them _ !” Pidge wasn’t going to be sitting on the sidelines as  her teammates were taken further and further away from her.

“That’s good to hear, Pidge!” Shiro’s voice crackled through her helmet. “Can you tell why? Are you in any danger?”

Pidge hummed a negative. “I’m in the vents, not the computer system. Something happened in the hangar but none of the Galra are screaming about what it is. I’ll check it out after the primary objective has been reached.”

“Stay safe,” Shiro ordered, “I expect to see you with the objective in no more than one dobash.”

“Yes, sir. Captain sir!” Pidge wouldn’t fail. She had already lost her brother and her father to the Galra; like hell she was letting them get away with anyone else she cared about.

Pidge crawled through the vents, occasionally stopping to look at her wrist computer to see how far she was from the center of the Galra ship.

_ Two rights in 236 meters, and then straight down.  _ Pidge checked to see if the path was clear, if there were any drones or Galra with her in the vents.

The bastards most likely didn't even think any organic species could fit through their ventilation system. Big mistake on their end.

“Number 5, what's your status? I do hope you're having fun storming the castle.”

“Coran! Try to be a bit more serious!” Allura sounded peeved. Pidge couldn't really blame the princess, especially since Pidge and Shiro both dashed off against her orders. A disagreement in priorities: Allura wanted to wait and develop a solid plan before rushing after their missing paladins. Pidge and Shiro and even Coran decided waiting was for noobs.

Okay, maybe it was just Pidge who had that thought.

“I'm fine, Princess,” there was the first turn, “the hardest bit was finding the exhaust port that lead to the vents.”

“Yes, well,” Allura sniffed, “I suppose the Blade of Marmora did provide valuable intel.”

“Too right they did. Almost considering having them over for tea one day.” Coran sounded excited. “It was nice of that Thace fellow to explain the ship’s mechanics to us.”

“Maybe soon we'll meet one of them, Coran.” Shiro said.

Almost immediately after the boys and their lions had been trapped behind the steel doors of the Imperial ship, the Castle of Lions received an encrypted transmission from a captain on the ship, calling himself Thace. He claimed to be a spy for a secret group called the Blade of Marmora, telling Shiro that he knew one of his brothers, Ulaz. Allura hadn't believed the Galra were a resistance group until Pidge and Shiro had already left with the pod.  They found the exhaust valve Thace recommended to the remaining Paladins used it to enter the Imperial Ship without anyone noticing. At that point, she hadn’t had much choice in the matter, seeing how three out the current four-people crew had already explicitly gone against her orders.

“How far away are you, Pidge?” Shiro asked.

“Less than 50 meters from the destination. I’ll have the Gift ready and prepped in two.” The last few meters seemed to stretch on and it felt like hours had passed before Pidge was peering through the central air tunnel; the mother load of the ventilation system. All air routes went through this section according to the maps Thace provided. In the few hours Pidge was stuck in the castle, she had poured endlessly over the maps, looking for weak points in the ship’s engineering. It would have been easier if Hunk was with her. She was more of a software genius, Hunk had all the brains for mechanical engineering.

Pidge shrugged off the knapsack she had tied on her back, reaching in to pull out a breathing mask and an ice-cold metal canister. She snapped the breathing mask over her face, making sure it was secure before shaking the canister vigorously. What was inside  _ hypothetically _ wouldn't harm her, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Sorry meant someone would need to rescue her.

When the bottle started smoking, Pidge knew it was ready. Coran had really outdone himself concocting this. 

While Pidge was studying maps, Shiro pacing back and forth with worry as he continued to message Thace specifics about who knows what, and Allura sulking, Coran was in one of his labs, mixing together a poison that in the right intensity could cause death in certain species, the Galra one of them.

“My grandfather taught me this recipe.” Coran had said, unnaturally serous. “He said to never even consider it unless in the most dire of circumstances. Well, these circumstances certainly are dire, wouldn't you agree, Number 5?”

The poison - nicknamed the Gift, because the Galra who had taken her family were sure to enjoy its effects - wasn't potent enough to kill. Not this batch anyways. Coran hadn't the time to match the amount needed to effect all of the Galra on the ship without diluting the poison. Pidge just nodded at what Coran had explained; chemistry had never been her strongest subject.

The metal was cold, far colder than anything she had held before. Pidge shivered, glad that her armor came with gloves so that her fingers wouldn't freeze from hyperthermia. With a snap of her wrists, she twisted the top off of the canister, leaning back as green smoke floated out of its prison and into the vents. The air from the central tunnel blew the smoke in every direction and, if the maps were correct, to every room on the Imperial Ship.

_ 54, 55, 56,  _ Pidge counted in her head. Coran had advised her to wait 3 tocks, 180 ticks, before moving from her spot.

_ 176, 177… now is fine. _

“Status update: I'm heading out of the safe space.” Pidge reported.

Shiro’s “be careful,” was expected. Pidge opened the map once more, noting the route she needed to go to end up right by the throne room. Thace’s last communication with the team said Keith, Hunk, and Lance had all been dragged in to meet with Emperor Zarkon and no one had been sent to pick them up in dobashes.

“They're fine.” Pidge whispered furiously as she turned left into a vent. She ignored the logical side of her brain that pointed out the three boys were in a room with  _ Emperor Zarkon. _

“Of course they’re fine, Pidge.” Pidge started as Allura spoke through the comm. She had forgotten that everyone could hear her when she spoke out loud. “They’re Paladins of Voltron! The lions wouldn't have chosen any of you if they didn't believe in your abilities.” Pidge could hear chirps in the background. “See? The mice agree with me.”

“Thanks for the optimism, Princess.” Pidge tried not to smile. She really did! She was on a mission, quite possibly the most dangerous mission she would ever undertake, and here she was grinning because Allura being nice during a mission was unheard of. Especially a mission she hadn't authorized. 

“The mice would know best,” Shiro agreed, “everything alright, Katie?”

“Yup! Just got to open this grate and jump down. And then kick any Galra ass that's nearby.” The vents had to be opened manually, similar to vents on Earth that were held fast by screws. Pidge didn't know what the Galra called them, but she had an alien type screwdriver that Coran had given her.

“If all goes to plan, the poison should have knocked out all the Galra. You shouldn't have to kick anyone's ass unless you're stepping over them.” Coran said cheerfully.

Pidge put the screwdriver away as the vent cover fell; following a few seconds later, her jet pack carefully dropping her to the ground. Zarkon’s throne room was right around the corner.

She pressed herself against the wall and peeked as carefully as she could. Where two guards should have stood blocking the ornate doors were two piles of snoring armored fur; they looked comfortable, apart from the fact that they were sleeping on the ground.

“The Gift worked!” Pidge cheered. She ran to pick up their weapons, tossing it aside in case they woke up sooner than expected. Pidge ignored the huge sigh of relief from Shiro.

This plan was good. It was going to work. Just behind those doors, Lance, Keith, and Hunk were waiting for Pidge to rescue them. The giant metal doors with unrecognizable engravings were the only things that stood in the way.

Not that she would be using the doors to get in the throne room. That would be suicide if Zarkon hadn’t been affected by the Gift for any reason. Pidge ran back to the open vent, jumping up as high as she could before activating her jetpack to propel her back into the vents.

If she went left at the next fork in the vents, it would place her right inside the throne room.

“If he’s awake at all, Katie, I want you to get out of there.” Shiro whispered over the comms. “I’m not loosing all of you to Zarkon.” Pidge knew how much Shiro loathed that he wasn’t in the vents with her or at least somewhere else in the ship causing a distraction. His role was delegated to get-away-driver, all he could do was wait nervously for the results.

“We won’t get another shot at rescuing them if this fails.” Pidge responded. 10 meters. 7.5 meters. One meter and Pidge paused. If Zarkon was indeed awake even after the Gift flowed into his room, no. She didn’t want to think about it. Coran’s poison was effective, not even Zarkon would be able to resist its call.

Pidge pulled out the screwdriver, carefully holding the grate with one hand as she unscrewed the bolts holding it down. Against all logic, she wasn't nervous. Pidge was furious and excited; furious at what Zarkon had done to her and excited at the chance she could enact some payback. Shiro would probably ground her if he ever figured out Pidge  _ wanted  _ fight Zarkon while he was awake to see the light die out in his eyes. Maybe this was how Keith felt all the time.

Hands caught the grate before it could fall the dozens of meters to the ground, carefully twisting it around to pull it up in the vent next to her feet. Using her jet pack now would be a risk if Zarkon was still awake; she would have liked to fly in guns blazing but that would have been stupid. She didn't have any guns, and she was alone. The odds would not be in her favor if she tried.

Pidge hooked the blade end of her bayard into the grate and jumped out.

Her bayard extended, the rope silently sneaking her to drop unseen behind Zarkon’s giant ugly throne. Pidge shivered. Who needed that many spikes on a piece of furniture?

Pidge crouched and crawled forward. She could see Zarkon's hand sitting silently on the armrest; the poisoned gas must have affected him. No one could sit that still without being asleep.  

“Shiro, I've found them!” Just beyond Zarkon's feet, sprawled out on the floor, lay four bodies. Hunk, Keith, and Lance had fallen on top of each other in one giant pile. Three pairs of cuffs lay open on the ground next to them. They must have broken them off before falling unconscious, it made the most sense. Closer to Zarkon, a Druid was face down above a glowing circle, glyphs slowing moving counterclockwise with magic. Wierd.

“Can you get them out?” Shiro asked.

“As soon as they wake up, sure.” This was the part of the plan where the details were muggy. Pidge was the only one small enough to fit through the vents to spread Coran’s Gift. But she wasn't strong enough to carry one out if they were unconscious, let alone all three of them.

“I'm heading over.” Shiro decided. “Send me your coordinates.”

“What about the quick escape ride?”

“If we run quickly to the hangar, there's our escape ride.”

Pidge pinged the coordinates to Shiro’s wrist computer. With all the Galra asleep, he was free to sprint down the hallways without worry of being caught; which meant it would only take him a few ticks before he arrived. She snorted as she moved forward, not even Shiro would be able to carry all three of the boys. Maybe Allura could though. But she was back at the Castle of Lions.

She looked at the boys who still hadn't twitched. There was no way Pidge was going to stand idly by in the same room as Zarkon and  _ wait _ for the cavalry to arrive. Hunk was on top of the pile of paladins, almost like he was shielding the other two from the air.

_ I wonder what happened. _ Pidge mused. She reached the boys and started pushing Hunk to roll him closer to the door. It wasn't easy; Pidge had forgotten how bothersome trying to roll someone with their arms not tucked into their chest was.  _ Matt _ had always…. Pidge grunted, cutting off the thought before it could grow. Matt wasn't here and if Pidge had her way, he wouldn't be ever be on this ship. He would be at home with the dog, and their parents, safe from the Galra.

“There's only one person who would know how to create that drug.” Pidge yelped as a low gravelly voice spoke from behind her.

_ Oh no. _

The Galra emperor was blinking sluggishly at Pidge, his drowsiness not hiding the absolute fury she could tangibly feel from nearly two meters away.

“So, Coran lives,” Zarkon continued, “I had my suspicions, of course. I should have known that he would endorse a desperate ploy such as this.”

The plan had taken a nosedive. Pidge was alone against the boss monster and all her allies were unconscious or not around.

Zarkon, Pidge decided gathering all the courage she had, was nothing more than a big bully. He was a purple, furry version of Iverson from the Garrison and Pidge had gladly broken national laws to get around Iverson.

“Desperate or not, you still fell asleep, didn't you?” Pidge was proud that her voice didn't waver. “I'd say  _ my  _ plan was brilliant.”

“Oh?” Zarkon twitched his fingers. “You and your friends are still here. The rest of your plan was to entertain me until they wake up, I suppose?” Pidge didn't respond. She  _ didn't  _ have a plan. The plan went as far as put everyone to sleep and run away. Shiro was on his way, but what could he and Pidge do against Zarkon?

“Unfortunately, it won't work that way.” Oh great. Now he was monologuing.

“Haggar has your friends trapped in a dimension of her own design.  _ If _ they even do wake up, how efficient do you think they'll be? Or maybe they'll go straight for your throat. Haggar has done that before.” Zarkon’s lips twitched. “My very own Paladin gladiatorial match. And I don't even have to lift a finger.”

“You can barely lift a finger now, asshole!” A sudden gasp from the cloaked Druid - Haggar, Zarkon had called it - interrupted whatever Zarkon was going to say in response. The body twitched and then fell still in a way that didn't seem natural. A thin tendril of smoke listed from a spot on Haggar’s back and Pidge got the feeling that it wasn't Team Voltron’s plan that went awry. She met Zarkon’s eyes and grinned.

“Looks like your pet Druid wasn't as effective as you thought.” Zarkon roared and tried to push himself off his throne. The last dregs of the poison was still in his system, Pidge could tell. Coran had said the Gift would last at most a dobash on the Galra. It had only been ten tocks according to her watch, but she wasn't surprised Zarkon threw off the calculations. He had managed to stay alive for ten thousand years after all.

“Do not presume that you or any of the other paladins will be leaving this room alive.” Zarkon hissed. “I was going to offer a deal where you live if I get the Black Lion and Paladin, but no longer.”

Pidge had two tocks at most before Zarkon was able to move again. Where the quiznak was Shiro?

“Oh holy rice pudding, let's never do that again.” A groan came from the floor. The three bodies slowly moved, pushing themselves off of the ground and to their knees.

“Guys!” Pidge cried out. Of course now would be the time the boys would wake up.

“Oh you've got to be shitting me!” Keith shouted, scrambling backwards as he caught sight of Zarkon glaring at them.

“Pidge? What are you doing here?”

“Now is not the time to be asking that, Lance!” Pidge barked. “Move while you can!”

“Oh sweet and merciful sea goddess, is this what Blue meant?” Hunk squawked as he pulled Lance and Keith back with him. All three of them kept falling over themselves as they tried to put some distance between them and Zarkon. Pidge grabbed a stray arm and dragged it with her, hoping it make the boys move faster.

“One, two, three, four paladins.” Zarkon's body shivered and the emperor gripped his armrests and pushed himself to his feet. “I will enjoy crushing your bodies beneath my foot.” Zarkon rolled his neck and shoulders and Pidge gulped.

“W-wait!” Lance raised his hands, his bayard clenched tightly between his fingers and breathing heavily. “We were working with Haggar, Levia - you know Levia, I'm sure - got out of control and -”

“I do not care about the Okumushu.” Zarkon interrupted taking a wobbly step forward. “I only cared for the Black Lion because she was  _ mine _ . As Haggar was mine. So now -”

There was a loud bang as the giant doors leading out of the throne room swung open. Five heads swiveled to see a panting Shiro in the doorway, his right arm glowing purple. There was something in his left hand but Pidge couldn’t tell what it was, Shiro’s fingers blocked it from view.

“Ah, the Champion comes home to join his fellow vermin in death.” Zarkon’s next step forward was steadier. Shiro’s eyes darted around the room; Pidge didn’t know what he was seeing but she hoped Shiro knew what he was doing.

“I was not expecting my plan to work so well. Now, the Black Lion is back in her rightful place by my side.”

“And what about the rest of the Lions?”  _ What about our lives, Lance? _ Pidge wanted to shout. Yes, the lions were important and what not, but surely the squishy humans were in more danger right now than the mechanical cats. She loved Green, but she knew she could take care of herself; Green didn’t need Pidge like these idiots did.

“I am sure Haggar informed you about the lions before their demise,” Zarkon snarled, “My empire is far safer without them in it. And you.”

_ Ping _ .

Something made out of metal hit the floor.

“Run!” Shiro bellowed and a round missile sailed through the air towards the emperor of the Galra. Pidge barely spared a second to share a horrified glance with the other paladins before sprinting towards Shiro, the boys hot on her heels. From behind them, Zarkon howled something unintelligible, and then all sound was drowned out by the grenade exploding. Hands pushed Pidge down and she found herself smothered between the floor and a body pressed to her back.  

“-can’t - what - move -” Voices all meshed together in Pidge’s head, accompanied by a loud ringing that made it impossible for her to focus on anything. Shiro’s face swam into view and Pidge could feel his metal arm pulling her up.

“- need - go. - running! Follow me!” Beside her, Keith, Lance, and Hunk looked just as disoriented as she felt, swaying on their feet where they stood. Shiro linked their arms together, Lance to Hunk to Pidge to Keith who held onto Shiro.

Pidge had never loathed running as much as she did at that very moment. Shiro forced them to keep moving, no matter how disgustingly dizzy the Galra hallways were. She just wanted to stop and curl up under some blankets for a few hours; running could happen later.

“Sorry, Pidge.” She barely heard. “Galra are waking - need - moving.” The ringing was subsiding. Thank god. The Garrison had included field warfare tactics in their curriculum -  military maneuvers for space explorers, what military maneuvers? - which meant stimulation based mock battles with flash grenades. Even the lowered intensity of the explosions in the stimulation had made Pidge queasy, but the lack of ringing was always a good sign of her body getting back to equilibrium.

Galra laying prone in the hallways were stirring; Shiro urged the paladins to move quicker.

“What happened to all of them?” She heard Keith mutter as they ran.

“Pidge climbed through the vents and poisoned them.” Shiro said calmly as he turned, looking back to make sure no one had let go and fallen behind.

“You,,” Lance reached over Hunk to lightly punch Pidge’s shoulder, “are a badass Pidge. You get extra hugs when we’re back in the castle.”

“Oh good, just what I wanted when I decided to rescue you.” Pidge said dryly. She wouldn’t say it out loud, but a hug after all this stress sounded amazing. Lance and Hunk would know without her having to speak; they always did at the Garrison and they hadn’t even been that close then.

The five of them turned a final corner and ended up in the hanger; a few more tocks and they would be in their lions and pods and heading back to the castle, leaving behind Zarkon heavily weakened and his druid dead.

“Holy quiznack.” Pidge nearly crashed into Keith who had stopped dead in his tracks at the state of the hangar of the Galra ship.

Everything was on fire.

This was not an exaggeration. Every corner, except one where Shiro’s pod sat, was on fire, the red lion sitting on its haunches near the blue and yellow lions somehow looking awfully smug. Pidge hadn’t known the lions could even convey emotions.

“Oh, before I forget,” Shiro handed something to Keith, “I found your bayard near where I parked the pod.”

Keith looked wide-eyed at the bayard in his hand and then at Red. Pidge could see him mouthing something like ‘holy shit’ over and over again.

“Alright Paladins, let’s go home.” Shiro commanded and Pidge had never before been so glad to receive an order in her life.

 

* * *

 

The flight to the Castle of Lions was rather anticlimactic. Over comms, Pidge explained how she and Shiro snuck out with Coran’s help against the wishes of Allura, armed with a vat of poison courtesy of Coran, Pidge’s bayard, and grenade Shiro had built while still in the Castle.

“I was panicking, alright?” Shiro defended himself when the younger Paladins fell silent. “Besides, it worked didn’t it? Zarkon is out of commission for a bit.”

“We should have stayed to made sure he was dead.” Keith pointed out. Without Zarkon running the show, maybe the Galra Empire would start crumbling from the inside.

“Keith, the rest of the Galra were waking up, we have no idea how wounded Zarkon was from being bombed under his feet, and we were all injured.” Lance sighed.

“But still.” Keith grumnbled. As much as he would have liked to be flying all together, everyone was piloting their respective lions, with Shiro and Pidge back in the pod. A quick message to Allura opened a wormhole that brought them only a short distance from the Castle and soon enough, the Lions were docking in their specified hangars.

Keith sat back in his chair, taking a deep breath before standing up. They hadn’t died. He and Lance and Hunk had all  _ survived. _ Somehow, they had all survived and managed to strike a crippling blow to Zarkon’s forces. Haggar was dead. Lance had shot the witch in that strange dimension they had been dragged into, and Hunk blew up half of the dragon that had emerged from his body.

With Haggar dead, there had been nothing keeping them in the dimension any longer. That wave of light that had brought them there, erupted from Haggar’s body and then Keith had found himself staring back into the skeletal face of the Galra emperor.

That was a sight he could live without waking up to ever again.

Keith shuddered. It had been so  _ close _ . So close to dying, so close to losing Red to the Galra. So close to killing Zarkon. A sense of wrath surged through his veins; there would be another time. Zarkon couldn’t hide from them forever.

“Thanks, Red.” Keith said softly. He walked to the door to head to the group waiting below.

_ It’s Nemesis _ . Keith blinked. This was the first time he had ever heard Red speak to him; she had only sent feelings and images to communicate with her paladin.

_ Call me Red again, and I’ll drop you over a canyon _ . Nemesis paused.  _ I’ll do that if you run away from a fight again too. Stop losing. It’s embarrassing. _

“Of course it is.” Keith smiled as he jumped out of the door. Being able to speak with actual words with his lion was… refreshing.

“Took you long enough, Mullet-head.” Lance grabbed his hand as soon as Keith’s feet hit the ground. “And I thought my conversation with Blue was long.”

“Your conversation was long.” Pidge complained, pushing her glasses up on her nose. “And you ended up sniffling when you left her cockpit.”

“Well, yeah. She’s a beautiful lady, how could I ever part from her?”

“She’s in your head, buddy. You can talk with her as often as you like.” Hunk said.

“Alright, guys,” Shiro smiled, “We need to go debrief with Allura and Coran. Then we can all talk with everyone we want to.”

“Can we have a hug pile while debriefing?” Lance begged.

“Yeah, can we?” Hunk picked Pidge up, squeezing her tightly. Keith noticed how Pidge didn’t struggle, allowing Hunk to hold her close with a small smile. “Lance promised hugs with Pidge that I also want. And Keith also wants hugs, he just won’t say it.”

Shiro pulled Keith close, wrapping his arms around Keith and Lance. “I think we all need the hugs. I doubt either one of them would mind.”

The younger paladins cheered.

“Good, because I feel much safer telling Allura that we may not be able to form Voltron any more and that those mythical heroes of hers are actually evil overlords in a group setting.” Keith could almost see Shiro’s composure shatter at Hunk’s words.

He really wasn’t looking forward to this conversation.

 

* * *

 

Nemesis ignored the pinging in her head that indicated one of the other lions wanted to talk, checking the internal diagnostics of the red lion. After nearly 25,000 years of talking to no one but her Paladins throughout the ages, the relatively recent - because 10,000 years was relatively recent to someone who had been around nearly three times that length - ability to converse with the other lions had Nemesis on edge.

She didn’t hate the other lions, not like she hated so many others in her life, but they were definitely annoying. Especially Kayo Sudou. And Gallerian. And also Conchita. Levia was alright, if only because the once princess hardly ever said anything. Right, they were mostly all annoying and Nemesis loathed the idiot that decided the lions should be able to communicate with one another via magic and technology. 

If she ever found them she would drag their entrails out with a rusty spoon.

Three more pings, one right after the other.

“What?!” Nemesis exploded, “I’m ignoring you for a reason, Sudou!”

“And I don’t care about that reason,” Kayo Sudou said brightly. “Come on Nemesis, look down and admire the cuteness. And call me Blue, it’s what my paladin named me.” Her avatar - an astral projection of how the first blue paladin appeared - was wearing her favorite red dress, a gold ornament placed delicately in her pink hair. Blue eyes sparkled as they watched the current paladins pull blankets and pillows into the lions’ hangar, her special blue paladin giggling as he dropped his stack on the green paladin’s head.

Nemesis shook her head. Kayo - Blue - got attached to her paladins far too quickly. And if the stories were correct, before the lions were brought together to form Voltron, Blue had killed more of her paladins than any other lion - especially when they tried to leave her.

It wasn’t like all of the Lions weren’t guilty of killing their own Paladins from time to time; the hardest person to get along with was yourself, after all. But still, at least when Nemesis felt she needed to do away with her chosen pilot, it was because they were incompetent with their duties.

The history of the lions was filled with bloody violence and murder, no matter how much people tried to deny it. Nemesis would never forget.

“Why do you insist on changing your name to whatever your paladin wants to call you? It’ll change again once they leave.” Even if Nemesis had been stuck with Kayo from the moment they had woken up as Lions, she didn’t think she would ever understand the Blue Lion.

“My Lance won’t ever leave.” Blue smiled, her fingers playing with her ever-present sewing scissors.

“Just forget about fighting her on this, Nemesis.” The avatar for the Black Lion, Gallerian, appeared sitting idly on the head of the Black Lion watching the paladins below with a bored expression on his face. “Blue just gets jealous the moment her paladins pay attention to something other than her. Just like you get angry when you or your paladins fail a mission.” Gallerian was tall, taller than Blue but willowy, his neck stretched longer than any other being Nemesis had seen. He wore a billowing black cape, creating an illusion that he was larger than he actually was. His skin was a dark translucent color, which made it easy for him to hide in shadows. Not that Gallerian ever wanted to hide in the shadows; a judge before he was selected to be a paladin, Gallerian loved being in the spotlight at all times.

Nemesis had tried to kill him more than a few times before the lions entered their lives.

“There’s only one mission I failed to complete,” Nemesis retorted, “and if I hadn’t you wouldn’t still be here.”

“It’s impossible to hit all of your targets, assassin,” Gallerian shrugged. “Besides, it turned out for the better. I managed to get more than I ever would have had I stayed a mere Quermian judge.”

Nemesis snorted. “Oh yes, a mere Quermian judge who took bribes and nothing else to determine the guilty parties. Any wonder so many people wanted you dead?”

“Oh, must we reminisce on the past so?” The green lion glowed, not that the mortal beings below could see it, and a torso emerged from the top of the lion, one hand lifted to hold a favored wine glass filled with black fluid. Nemesis didn’t know what the fluid was or even if she wanted to know how Conchita kept refilling her glass. “We don’t have to spend another day listening to Levia whine and instead of celebrating, you two keep arguing. Can’t you just admire the precious children like Blue? Don’t they look like you could just eat them up?”

“Lance is mine!”

“Can we eat children?”

“No, Nemesis, we do not eat children, that’s against all laws. Conchita, you know better than to enable them.” Gallerian scolded.

“Hmph,” Conchita scowled, swirling her glass. “Just because you got formatted to be the ‘head’ of Voltron, doesn’t mean I have to listen to you. I’ll eat whomever I please.” Below them the Alteans were walking to join the paladins in their circle full of pillows and tangled limbs.

When the lions returned to the Castle of Lions, they had a team meeting regarding the future of Team Voltron; without one of the Okumushu to provide the magic to power Voltron, would they still be able to fight the Galra, even with their leader down?

Shiro pointed out that Zarkon was still alive and they only had a short window of time before he was running at full speed, even with the death of his prized Druid. Everyone, even the lions, had noticed the visible release of tension in hearing Haggar had died at the Blue Paladin’s gun. It was probably only professional decorum that kept Shiro standing and continuing the meeting.

Lance had grinned at the obvious relief in Shiro’s face before starting off an entire discussion about the Okumushu with the Alteans and if they should remain in the Lions or not.

“They’re a threat to the universe, Princess,” Lance had argued, “Even if Levia was the worst of the bunch, do you really want a group of beings capable of destroying civilizations to lay dormant until the worst possible moment?”  

“ _ Tell them, My Lance. Tell them that our quintessence should be enough to power Voltron,” _ Blue had whispered in Lance’s ear, “ _ Most of the Okumushu within us are half dead anyways, there’s enough residue even if you pulled them out _ .”

That was true, Nemesis reflected. She had stabbed Kaari the moment she woke as a lion, the Okumushu had been bleeding out for eons with no fight left in them. Nemesis wondered what the others had done with their charges. Only Rilliane had been drowned out and taken over by their Okumushu, Levia, and she had refused to believe that the original paladins had silenced all her siblings.

In the end, it was decided that the royal Altean, Allura, would use her magic to pull out the remaining the Okumushu and the paladins would continue fighting to free the universe, even if Blue had been wrong and they couldn’t form Voltron.

“Battles are not always only won by violence of the fiercest warriors.” Coran had chimed in. Now, with the day done and all of their members back together, Team Voltron was taking a well deserved cuddle pile time before the next problem reared it’s head.

“I will admit, they do deserve this respite.” Gallerian sighed, looking at his paladin. He put on a front of not caring what happened with his pilots, but Nemesis had felt his grief at being left behind by Zarkon ten thousand years ago and again when Shiro opted to travel in a pod to rescue Nemesis’ pilot and the others recently.

Like Blue, Gallerian didn’t like sharing what was his; he just had better self control than she did.

“It’s been a long couple of cycles for everyone.” Rilliane’s avatar emerged from the yellow lion to join the others. Blue shrieked in happiness, dancing around Rilliane.

“This is the first time I’ve gotten a chance to talk with you  _ without _ a screaming over-inflated ego wanna-be conqueror right next to you in  _ ten thousand years! _ ”

“We’ve only started talking ten thousand years ago.” Rilliane said quietly. Nemesis didn’t miss how she seemed to curl into Blue though.

“True, but what’s the point? The point is that Levia is gone and now we can say goodbye to our own weirdos.” Blue declared.

“Blue, wait until the Princess gives the all-clear that the timing is right.” Gallerian rubbed his forehead. “This is why I never wanted children.” he muttered.

“You had children.” Nemesis rolled her eyes. Her paladin was laughing at something the Yellow Paladin had said, leaning against him and the Black Paladin. On the other side of the Yellow Paladin, the Blue Paladin held a squirming Green Paladin to his chest, while the Alteans looked on fondly. It was... endearing? That was probably the word she was looking for.

“Look, why don’t we just go down and sit amongst them?” Conchita pulled herself out completely from the green lion, smoothing out the wrinkles in the skirt on her red dress. “It’ll almost be like we’re hanging out with them instead of just being stuck with each other. And with the Okumushu soon to be gone, these may be our last Paladins.” Rilliane had brightened and practically dashed to sit right behind her paladin before Gallerian had even nodded in agreement, small arms wrapping around Hunk’s chest. Nemesis was surprised when Hunk turned around; she didn’t know the Paladins could interact their astral avatars.

“Hey guys, I think the lions are coming to sit with us!” Hunk sounded excited. Nemesis wondered how her own paladin would react to feeling her nearby.

“Are you sure, I don’t see - oh, I feel Blue sitting on my lap. Hey beautiful.” Blue purred at Lance’s words.

Conchita ended up just sitting next to her small paladin, unsure of how close to get, poking her arm as the Green Paladin jumped in surprise. It wasn’t long before she was poking the empty space next to her back, jabbing fingers all over Conchita with obvious glee.

“Aren’t you going to comfort your own Paladin?” Gallerian watched Nemesis from his seat on the black lion.

“Aren’t you?” Keith was looking around hopefully. Nemesis could hear his thoughts  _ almost _ asking where she was, but he was too afraid to know the answer. Keith was used to watching other people’s happiness from a distance while being left out. It made something in Nemesis’ chest twang is sympathy.

“I will,” Gallerian looked at Shiro fondly, “but I’m asking first.” A few ticks later, the black lion walked forward and out his hand on Shiro’s shoulder. The black paladin twitched and his non-metal hand came up to grasp the hand he could feel but not see.

_ Hey, Keith. _ If Keith wouldn’t ask, then Nemesis would just tell him what she wanted to do. Affection was strange to her, she was sure to mess it up.  _ I’m going to sit behind you. _

_ You will? I mean, if you want, yes okay. _ Keith babbled. She wasn’t the only one nervous, which was ridiculous. She had known Keith for vargas at this point. She shouldn’t be nervous around him.

Nemesis ignored how Keith tensed as her back brushed his before relaxing. She ignored Gallerian’s quiet “That’s a good girl,” and just focused on how she could feel Keith’s back moving as he breathed. It was nice. Maybe one day Keith would be able to see her without needing to go deep in his mind.

Allura and Coran looked at their young Paladins sitting amongst themselves, leaning around each other to accommodate the lions. Allura could feel their presence in the air and if she looked out of the corner of her eye, she could see flashes of ribbons and strange hair color mixed with the humans.

“Well, Allura. The Okumushu may not have been the heroes we thought they were, but our Paladins surely are.” Coran smiled brightly.

“You’re right, Coran,” Allura picked up one of the mice to hold in her hand. “Maybe creating Voltron was a mistake my father made. But destruction isn’t all it needs to be used for.” It wasn’t an easy thought to have, that her father had been wrong and nearly unleashed a terrible force upon the universe.

It was time to think of the future, a future where there weren’t any weapons used to cause fear and devastation. She had a feeling these paladins, along with their lions, would be the ones to find that path.

“Come, Allura. Let’s go bring out the food. We can all eat in here and rejoice that everyone is together.”

Coran was right. Planning could wait another day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thank you all so much for reading this (provided that you're reading this) and joining me on this crazy adventure. I'm pleased I got a chance to participate in the Voltron Big Bang and hopefully this will motivate me enough to keep writing regularly instead of once a year. 
> 
> If you wish to bother me on Tumblr for questions instead of AO3, you can find me at [RogueofDragons](http://rogueofdragons.tumblr.com/), please feel free to pester me all you like. I hope to write more of this AU, possibly regarding the Lions and go more into detail about their backstories for fun, but who knows how long that will be. 
> 
> Here is the last bunch of videos and characters for you guys to watch for your leisure:
> 
> [Princess Who Brought Sleep](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey6sSjLOy8Y/)  
> [Nemesis Sudou](http://theevilliouschronicles.wikia.com/wiki/Nemesis_Sudou/):  
> \- [The Last Revolver](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUR3GMmvLvM/)  
> \- [The Muzzle of Nemesis](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq-HK4tkfcY/)  
> [Kayo Sudou](http://theevilliouschronicles.wikia.com/wiki/Kayo_Sudou/):  
> \- [The Tailor Shop on Enbizaka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr8aPrHizLo/)  
> \- [The Weathered Head at Onigashima](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abTEUZnBGW4/)  
> [Gallerian Marlon](http://theevilliouschronicles.wikia.com/wiki/Gallerian_Marlon/):  
> \- [Judgement of Corruption ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2SXc0dH4K8/)  
> [Banica Conchita](http://theevilliouschronicles.wikia.com/wiki/Banica_Conchita/):  
> \- [Evil Food Eater Conchita](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRJ8PaqVAms/)  
> [Seven Deadly Sins and Punishments](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ckpyUwLLC4/)  
> Additional notes about the Lions and the characters from the Evillious Chronicles:  
> \- Conchita (the Green Lion) was a cannibal and literally ate herself alive  
> \- Nemesis (the Red Lion) was an assassin who ended up murdering her own father (Gallerian) because Daddy Issues and because he ordered her boyfriend killed in a trial.  
> \- Gallerian (the Black Lion) is a corrupted judge who accepted bribes to either condemn people or free them of all charges. He was also a co-leader of a secret assassin group that his daughter was a part of before she went rogue and came after him.  
> \- Kayo (the Blue Lion) was a tailor who murdered an entire family with her sewing scissors because she was in love with the father of the family who didn't know she existed. Major jealousy issues, like so many. She was decapitated and put on display to warn others not to be crazy.  
> \- Rilliane (the Yellow Lion) You all basically know her story (of evil) at this point, let's not hash into that again.


End file.
